Brahms公司开发出检测脓毒败血症的新指标

一项检测前降钙素做为炎症反应指标的新方法被设计用于那些面临严重脓毒败血症危险的患者的早期诊断。这项检测方法已经获得了美国食品药品管理局的许可。

这项叫做PCT LIA(luminescence immunoassay)的检测方法是由Brahms诊断公司(Hennigsdorf, Germany; www.brahms.de)研制开发的。该公司说，对败血症的早期诊断与治疗已经成为重症监护病房每天都要面临的挑战。严重的脓毒败血症，是一种伴随急性器官衰竭的败血症，是非心血管重症监护室的头号死亡原因。在将来这些病例面临着上升趋势，特别是因为抗生素的广泛应用，促进了耐药微生物的快速增加。尽管对重症监护资源的巨大投入，严重败血症的死亡率一般在28％～50％之间。

Cooper大学医院重症医学主任R.Phillip Dellinger评论说：“目前已经十分清楚，即前降钙素的检测为临床医生提供了感染与感染严重程度之间的显著相关性。在经过挑选患者中的临床效果已经明确，我们中心以及其它中心正在努力发现如何最好的应用这种指标，因为它与患者的处理措施相关。在许多欧洲医院前降钙素PCT已经可以得到，在美国医生现在也可以得到了。

前降钙素PCT检测的临床科学先锋Konrad Reinhart教授(Jena, Germany)说：“今天，这项检测在我们临床诊断与治疗败血症领域，已经确立了检测常规的位置，PCT在美国开始应用将鼓励在这个领域开展更多的国际临床与科研合作。”

Inflammatory Response Marker for Sepsis

A new test for procalcitonin that serves as a marker of inflammatory response is designed for the early diagnosis of patients at risk for severe sepsis. The test has been cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Called PCT LIA (luminescence immunoassay), the test was developed by Brahms Diagnostics (Hennigsdorf, Germany; www.brahms.de). Early diagnosis and treatment of sepsis are daily challenges in intensive care units (ICUs), the company noted. Severe sepsis, which is sepsis with acute organ dysfunction, is the number one cause of death in noncoronary ICUs. Cases are expected to rise in the future, partly because of the widespread use of antibiotics that encourage the growth of drug-resistant microorganisms. In spite of enormous investment in critical care resources, severe sepsis mortality ranges from 28-50%.

“It is clear that elevation in procalcitonin offers the clinician a significant correlation with infection and severity of infection,” commented Dr. R. Phillip Dellinger, director of critical care medicine at Cooper University Hospital (Camden, NJ, USA). “Clinical utility in select patient populations has already been identified and our center and others continue to work to discover the optimal utilization of this marker as it relates to patient management.” Procalcitonin PCT is already available in numerous European hospitals and will now become available to doctors in the United States.

“Today, this test has established a place in our clinical routine for the diagnosis and therapy direction of sepsis,” noted Prof. Konrad Reinhart (Jena, Germany), a clinical scientific pioneer in procalcitonin PCT testing. “The availability of PCT in the United States will encourage more international clinical-scientific cooperation on this subject.”