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

Stopped early

Conditions studied: Cancer, Bacteremia

In brief

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.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT02417168

Run by

CAMC Health System

People needed

1

Starts

2015-07-01

Expected to finish

2016-03-01

Last updated by the study team

2020-03-04

Who can join

Age: any, up to 17. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Children between the ages of birth to seventeen years.
• Present to Charleston Area Medical Center Women and Children's Hospital
• Existing pediatric oncology diagnosis.
• Temperature greater than 38.0 C or 100.5 Fahrenheit.
• Central venous access or functional port available.

You may not qualify if…

• Any non-pediatric (eighteen years and above) oncology patient or a non-oncology patient.
• The patient does not have central venous access or a port from which the blood can be drawn.

Where it is running

• CAMC Health Systems — Charleston, West Virginia, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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