Sepsis, which kills over 200,000 patients and costs over $20 billion in the United States alone, presents a constant but preventable challenge in the healthcare system. Among the more challenging problems that it presents is misdiagnosis due to conflation with other inflammatory processes, as its mechanisms are identical to those of other inflammatory states. Unfortunately, current
biomarker tests can only assess the severity and mortality risk of each case, whereas no single test exists that can predict
sepsis prior to the onset of symptoms for the purpose of pre-emptive care and monitoring. We propose that a single test utilizing three, rather than two,
biomarkers that appear most quickly in the blood and are the most specific for
sepsis rather than
trauma, may improve diagnostic accuracy and lead to lessened patient morbidity and mortality. Such a test would vastly improve patient outcomes and quality of life, prevent complications for
sepsis survivors, and prevent
hospital readmissions, saving the American healthcare system money. This review summarizes the current use of
sepsis biomarkers to prognosticate morbidity and mortality, and rejects the current single-
biomarker and even combination
biomarker tests as non-specific and inaccurate for current patient needs/pro-inflammatory
cytokines, general markers of
inflammation, and
proteins specific to myeloid cells (and therefore to
infection) are discussed. Ultimately, the review suggests a three-
biomarker test of
procalcitonin (PCT),
interleukin-6 (IL-6), and soluble
triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells-1 (sTREM-1) to diagnose
sepsis before the onset of symptoms.