Determinación de procalcitonina en un Cobas e411

Abstract

Over the last few years, Procalcitonin (PCT) has been shown to be the most sensitive test for the management of the infectious process, diagnosis and stratification of sepsis, prognosis of postoperative complications, and even useful for monitoring antibiotic therapy. A new electrochemical luminescence immunoassay (ECLIA) has recently been developed for measuring Procalcitonin (Elecsys BRAHMS PCT), with similar characteristics to the most efficient method described up to now (PCT KRYPTOR). In the present work, 140 patient specimens were analysed with PCT concentrations ranging 0.02–47.13 ng/mL, in a Cobas e411 and a KRYPTOR analysers, and the results were found not to be transferable between methods. Although diagnostic classification using the current cut-off points did not vary significantly, a larger study will be required to redefine these cut-off points for the new method. On the other hand, there was no significant carryover effect at PCT concentrations close to the upper limit of the dynamic range, but it was observed at higher concentrations of PCT. However, at a concentration of PCT close to the clinical decision limit of 0.5 ng/mL this effect seems to be clinically insignificant, thus no corrective action would be necessary to prevent carryover.