Indian Journal of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, July-September 2021, Vol. 15, No. 3 2855 Diagnostic Value of Serum Procalcitonin in Hospitalized Sepsis Patients Cut Murzalina 1 , Bakhtiar Bakhtiar 2 , Hanifah Yusuf 3 , Buchari Buchari 4 1 Assistant Professor, Department of Clinical Pathology, 2 Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatric, 3 Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacology, 4 Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Universitas Syiah Kuala, Banda Aceh, 23111, Indonesia Abstract Introduction: Early diagnosis of sepsis is important to reduce the mortality and morbidity. A marker for diagnostic, stratifying, prognostic, and treatment evaluation of sepsis is utmost important.This study aimed to evaluate the potency of procalcitonin (PCT) as a diagnostic marker in sepsis patients. Material and Methods: A case-control was conducted at Intensive Care Unit of Adam Malik Hospital, Medan, Indonesia.Patients diagnosed with sepsis as well as healthy individuals, matched gender and age with the sepsis patients, were included. The levels of PCT were measured by the semi-quantitative immunochromatographic method and were categorized into four: <0.5 ng/ml, ≥0.5-<2 ng/ml, ≥2 - <10 ng/ ml, and ≥10 ng/ml. In addition to PCT, leukocyte count, hemoglobin level, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) were also measured. Results: The mean of leukocyte count was significantly higher in sepsis group than control (18.89±7.40x10 3 / μlvs.8.33±1.30x10 3 /μl, p<0.001). The mean ESR in case group was significantly higher (31.09 mm/hour) than in control group (10.45 mm/hour) with p<0.001. In contrast, the mean hemoglobin level in sepsis patients was significantly lower than in controls, 9.84±1.91 gr/dl and 14.48±1.68, respectively with p<0.001. PCT level in all healthy individuals (100%) was <0.5 ng/ml; while within the sepsis group, 2 (15.4%) had PCT level less than 0.5 ng/ml, 5 (38.5%) was >2 ng/ml, and 6 (46.1%) was >10 ng/ml. No significant difference was found on PCT level when stratified by the severity of sepsis (p=0.524). Spearman’s correlation test suggested there was significant and strong association between PCT and leukocyte level (r=0.588, p=0.034). Conclusion: Our data suggest that PCT could be a potential diagnostic marker of sepsis. Further studies are needed to understand optimal use of PCT in combination with other markers for early diagnosis of sepsis. Keywords: Procalcitonin, sepsis, biomarker, disease severity, diagnosis Corresponding author: CutMurzalina Department of Clinical Pathology, School of Medicine, Universitas Syiah Kuala, Jl. Tanoh Abe, Darussalam, Banda Aceh, 23111, Indonesia Email:cutmurzalina@unsyiah.ac.id Introduction Sepsis is one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity, even with the advanced medical care available today. Around 18 million new sepsis cases reported annually with 30-50% mortality rate worldwide 1 . Bacteria are the most common cause of sepsis, although other microbes such as virus, fungi, and parasites could also cause sepsis 2 . As sepsis is associated with high mortality rate, early diagnosis and prompt therapy is crucial in its management. However, diagnosis of sepsis might be challenging because the signs and symptoms may overlap with other conditions such asburn, trauma, pancreatitis, transplant rejection, and autoimmune diseases 3 . Much effort is being placed on the study of biomarkers that able to detect sepsis at the early phase