ArticleOral and maxillofacial surgery2026
Procalcitonin as a predictor of length of stay in patients with odontogenic infections.
Article in Oral and maxillofacial surgery, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesOur study aimed to evaluate procalcitonin (PCT) as a prognostic marker in advanced odontogenic infections. In addition, we sought to identify further prognostic markers that could be used to predict the length of hospital stay (LOS). MATERIALS AND
methodsWe retrospectively analysed 61 patients who were hospitalised between January and August 2020 for surgical abscess drainage in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at the University Hospital of Bonn. Univariable logistic discrete hazard models were used to assess the association between baseline levels as well as temporal changes in laboratory parameters (PCT, C-reactive protein (CRP), and leukocytes) and LOS. In addition, a tree-based approach for modelling discrete time-to-event data was used to identify risk groups of patients with a prolonged LOS.
resultsMedian LOS were 5, 7, and 9 days for different PCT concentrations < 0.1 µg/l, 0.1-0.5 µg/l, and > 0.5 µg/l, respectively (p < 0.001). The data-driven tree identified three subgroups with median LOS of 4, 6, and 10 days based on preoperative CRP and PCT levels. Patients with CRP > 153 mg/l had a median LOS of 10 days, while those with CRP ≤ 153 mg/l had median LOS of 6 or 4 days depending on whether PCT was > 0.03 µg/l or ≤ 0.03 µg/l.
conclusionsPCT may serve as a useful prognostic marker for estimating LOS, even in severe odontogenic infections. Exploratory decision tree analysis demonstrated that the combined assessment of PCT and CRP levels could help stratify patients into distinct LOS subgroups, which may facilitate clinical decision-making and more accurate estimation of treatment outcomes.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.