Evidence That Presepsin is an Early Marker of Postoperative Infection After Cardiac Surgery
[Introduction] Postoperative infection remains one of the major complications of surgery. In particular, postoperative infection after cardiac surgery often becomes serious and life-threatening. Consequently, its early diagnosis and treatment are critically important. The diagnosis of postoperative infection is often delayed, however, due to the inflammatory marker rise that occurs in response to surgical stress. Thus, a marker that detects the early onset of postoperative infection is needed.
Presepsin (PSEP) is a new marker of inflammation that is specific for bacterial infection and shows a rapid response. Although there have been several studies of the usefulness of PSEP in emergency and intensive care, there have been few reports of its utility in the perioperative period. In the present study, we investigated its value as an early marker of postoperative infection after cardiac surgery.