Evaluation of Markers for Early Diagnosis of Sepsis- Analysis of Data
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Evaluation of Markers for Early Diagnosis of Sepsis for the Development of a Sepsis Panel- Analysis of Data from the Siemens ADVIA 2120i Full Blood Count Analyser.
IRAS ID
242011
Contact name
Karen Stanley
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Sheffield Hallam University
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 3 months, 11 days
Research summary
Sepsis is a life threatening condition, and is currently a high priority topic in healthcare. White blood cells (WBCs) are a vital part of the immune system, and are routinely quantified in sepsis. The first type of WBCs to respond in infections such as sepsis are neutrophils; therefore these cells are particularly important. Sepsis can also lead to neutrophil dysfunction - resulting in aggravation of infection. There may be characteristic changes in the neutrophil population distinctive to sepsis that could differentiate sepsis from other non-septic conditions.
There is currently a lack of rapid routine tests in laboratories that can reliably detect sepsis at an early, critical stage. The current gold standard for laboratory diagnosis is blood cultures in microbiology, which take twenty-four hours.
Markers that could be reported in a shorter time frame and predict onset are appealing. Previous research has shown that specific markers that can be detected on the Siemen’s ADVIA 2120i full blood count analysers are associated with sepsis. The ADVIA 2120i is a routinely used blood cell counter analyser, which tests samples in under two minutes.
Large amounts of data from WBCs is generated by these analysers but not currently used, as their usefulness is not widely established. Examples of these include the markers ‘delta neutrophil index’ and ‘mean peroxidase index’. At present the number of studies evaluating these markers are limited and so they are not yet utilised in routine laboratories.
This study would focus on an WBC approach for sepsis diagnosis, which is traditionally based on identifying infectious organism. The WBC markers will be evaluated in patients with and without sepsis, alongside existing results. These markers could lead to development in early diagnosis of sepsis at facilities that have analysers with the capacity to identify them.
REC name
South Central - Oxford B Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/SC/0349
Date of REC Opinion
28 Jun 2018
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion