BACKGROUND Therapy with antibiotics influences recovery only in selected cases of COPD exacerbations. We evaluated the efficacy and safety of procalcitonin guidance compared to standard therapy with antibiotic prescriptions in patients experiencing exacerbations of COPD. METHODS A total of 208 consecutive patients requiring hospitalization for COPD exacerbation were randomized at the index ex...

RATIONALE In patients with community-acquired pneumonia, guidelines recommend antibiotic treatment for 7 to 21 d. Procalcitonin is elevated in bacterial infections, and its dynamics have prognostic implications. OBJECTIVE To assess procalcitonin guidance for the initiation and duration of antibiotic therapy in community-acquired pneumonia. METHODS In a randomized intervention trial, 302 con...

BACKGROUND Because the use of procalcitonin has been advocated as a marker of bacterial infection, this study was carried out to determine the usefulness of serum PCT as an early marker to decide upon intervention for urinary tract infection. METHODS The subjects were 68 patients with urinary tract infection (UTI) in whom we measured serum procalcitonin concentration at the start of treatment...

introduction: about one third of the world's population is infected with tuberculosis (tb) and each year, about 1.5 to 2 million people die from tb. procalcitonin (pct) is an inflammatory marker that its level has variable materials and methods: this conducted on patients with pulmonary tb. data were collected using a check list. the serum level of pct was measured by elisa test at the beg...

When fever occurs in a patient treated with a neuroleptic, the diagnosis of a neuroleptic malignant syndrome is difficult to differentiate to that of an infectious event. Among inflammation biomarkers of inflammation, serum procalcitonin levels increase both quickly and specifically during a bacterial infection. We report the first case of a neuroleptic malignant syndrome associated with a sign...

Septicemia is a growing problem within the United States (US), which increases mortality and the cost of care. Procalcitonin is a pro-inflammatory marker that could be useful in the diagnosis of infection. In the past, procalcitonin levels have been evaluated to diagnose sepsis or guide antibiotic therapy, but it was not determined if it would differentiate between sepsis and other causes of in...

Incomplete Kawasaki disease (iKD) is considered to be a less complete form of Kawasaki disease (cKD), and several differences in the laboratory presentations of iKD and cKD have been noted. We investigated serum procalcitonin levels in patients with iKD, cKD, and other febrile diseases (a control group). Seventy-seven patients with cKD, 24 with iKD, and 41 controls admitted to our hospital from...

Background and Aims: As a method for the diagnosis and management of sepsis, the serum procalcitonin assay is routinely used, especially in the emergency department (ED) and intensive care units (ICU). Procalcitonin has reasonable diagnostic accuracy for bacteremia in hospitalized patients of all age groups with suspected infection or sepsis. This study aimed to compare the Getein Biotech proca...