Search Tag: procalcitonin
2023 09 May
Sepsis is characterised by a dysregulated host response to infection resulting in organ dysfunction. It poses a significant global health problem, with a high mortality risk and millions of patients affected annually. Epidemiological studies have shown that nearly 20% of septic patients require mechanical ventilation, leading to significant healthcare...Read more
2023 20 Apr
An overview of promising biomarkers in critical care, characteristics a biomarker should have and how to ensure their usefulness in clinical practice. Introduction Precision medicine is a medical approach that tailors treatments based on individual patient characteristics and their unique response to therapies for a particular disease....Read more
2023 13 Mar
This article describes the application of existing and emerging biomarkers in the diagnosis and management of sepsis and pneumonia. Introduction: The Need for Biomarkers in Sepsis Sepsis is defined as a dysregulated host response to infection that results in life threatening organ dysfunction. It carries an estimated...Read more
2021 20 Apr
Sepsis is a global healthcare problem, with 50 million cases each year and 11 million related deaths 1 . It’s the life-threatening complication of an infection, in which the host’s immune response to a pathogen damages its own organs. The clinical diagnosis of sepsis relies mostly on signs and symptoms that are neither sensitive nor specific enough...Read more
2021 20 Apr
Sepsis is a global healthcare problem, with 50 million cases each year and 11 million related deaths 1 . It’s the life-threatening complication of an infection, in which the host’s immune response to a pathogen damages its own organs. The clinical diagnosis of sepsis relies mostly on signs and symptoms that are neither sensitive nor specific enough...Read more
2020 19 Oct
COVID-19 is a new disease. On initial presentation, clinicians can find it difficult to differentiate between coronavirus disease and bacterial community-acquired pneumonia. COVID-19 patients often develop a hyperinflammatory phase during the disease process, which could again be difficult to distinguish from a secondary bacterial infection. That is...Read more
2020 03 Aug
Procalcitonin is widely used to assess the risk of bacterial infection and disease progression. Can it be an additional tool to identify COVID-19 patients at risk of severe disease? Key Points Procalcitonin (PCT) is a widely used biomarker to assess the risk of bacterial infection and disease progression. Early evidence...Read more
2019 30 Aug
The controversy surrounding the efficacy of the blood infection biomarker, procalcitonin (PCT), for guidance in acute infections and sepsis treatment remains. PCT is a calcitonin precursor produced by epithelial cells when infected with bacteria and has been identified as a marker due to the protein levels’ variation upon infection initiation and cessation....Read more
2018 22 Aug
Procalcitonin (PCT)-guided antibiotic treatment in ICU patients with infection and sepsis patients results in improved survival and reduced antibiotic treatment duration, according to results of a new meta-analysis published in the journal Critical Care. Early identification of sepsis and appropriate initial management including the start of...Read more
2018 29 May
In the Procalcitonin Antibiotic Consensus Trial (ProACT), the use of a procalcitonin-guided antibiotic prescription guideline did not result in less exposure to antibiotics than did usual care among patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) with suspected lower respiratory tract infection. Overuse of antibiotics is common in infections...Read more
2016 05 Sep
Procalcitonin (PCT) is increasingly used in health services to diagnose and manage sepsis, and is authorised for use for this purpose in the United States. A recently published study found that patients who had 1-2 PCT evaluations on their first day of admission to the intensive care unit (ICU) had a significantly lower hospital and ICU length of stay,...Read more
2015 12 Dec
The use of procalcitonin (PCT) testing to guide antibiotic treatment may reduce antibiotic use in patients with sepsis or suspected sepsis in the ICU and patients with possible bacterial infections in emergency departments (EDs), according to a systematic review published in Health Technology Assessment . PCT is produced in your body and increases...Read more