Spectrum of infections and efficacy of procalcitonin in detecting sepsis in decompensated cirrhotic patients.

Patients who are diagnosed with decompensated cirrhosis after obtaining written informed consent and checking for exclusion criteria will be enrolled in the study. Information regarding relevant history, physical examination and laboratory parameters will be entered in a preformatted data sheet. Baseline severity scores such as the CTP, MELD Na and qSOFA will be calculated. Patients with suspected infections will be screened based on the clinical condition, laboratory parameters, radiological findings and culture reports. As per the protocol serum procalcitonin has been routinely used as a marker in all patients suspected of infections in our department. In these patients procalcitonin will be determined within the first 12 hours of admission.