C-reactive protein and procalcitonin in the assessment of infection response to antibiotic therapy

With these limitations, researchers and clinicians look at the inflammatory cascade for a potential objective serum marker of infection. By definition a serum marker should be absent if the patient is not infected, appear concomitantly and ideally precede the clinical manifestations of infection, disappear with successful therapy or remain elevated if infection is refractory to treatment. Serial measurements of biomarkers, namely CRP and PCT, used in combination with the clinical examination are very useful in the monitoring of infection response to antibiotics.