Procalcitonin Levels as a Predictor of Bacteremia in Febrile Pediatric Oncology Patients - Pilot Study

Fevers raise the concern for serious bacterial infections in pediatric oncology patients receiving chemotherapy. The gold standard for diagnosing bacteremia (bacterial infection of the blood) is a blood culture. However, bacterial growth may not occur for 48 hours or there can be a false negative result.

Thus, the biomarker, procalcitonin, has been investigated for its predictive ability to identify bacteremia earlier than blood culture. We believe that procalcitonin can assist in differentiating bacteremia from non-bacteremia infections in febrile pediatric oncology patients. A reliable predictor of bacteremia infections in pediatric oncology patients should decrease hospitalizations for fever and unnecessary antibiotic treatment.

In our study we will measure procalcitonin levels in pediatric oncology patients presenting with fever. We will measure procalcitonin at the time of admission which is part of our standard of care for febrile pediatric oncology admissions. For the purpose of our study, we will additionally measure procalcitonin levels at 12 hours and at 24 hours post admission. We will examine procalcitonin levels at these three timepoints to determine if elevated procalcitonin levels predict bacteremia in pediatric oncology patients with and without neutropenia.