Procalcitonin as a biomarker in respiratory tract infection.

Link to article at PubMed

Procalcitonin as a biomarker in respiratory tract infection.

Clin Infect Dis. 2011 May;52 Suppl 4:S346-50

Authors: Gilbert DN

Serum procalcitonin (PCT) levels rapidly increase in patients with invasive bacterial disease. PCT levels increase faster than do C-reactive protein levels. Furthermore, a rapid decrease in the PCT level is supporting evidence that the source of the bacterial infection is responding to clinical management. In patients with community-acquired bacterial pneumonia, sequential PCT levels are useful as a guide to shorter courses of antimicrobial therapy. With use of emerging multiplex real-time polymerase chain reaction platforms for the detection of viral and bacterial respiratory pathogens, it should be possible to critically assess whether an elevated serum PCT level is a valid biomarker of invasive bacterial infection.

PMID: 21460294 [PubMed - in process]

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