OBJECTIVES To prospectively validate that the inability to decrease procalcitonin levels by more than 80% between baseline and day 4 is associated with increased 28-day all-cause mortality in a large sepsis patient population recruited across the United States. DESIGN Blinded, prospective multicenter observational clinical trial following an Food and Drug Administration-approved protocol. S...

There is a global crisis of antibiotic resistance in part because of the collateral damage of antibiotic use. Reduction in antibiotic consumption is clearly important to minimize this problem. Limiting treatment duration may be the most clinically palatable means of reducing antibiotic consumption. Antimicrobial stewardship programs play an important role in this process. Their effectiveness ma...

AIMS To determine the level of serum procalcitonin and cerebrospinal fluid cytokines in children with bacterial or viral meningitis and to document the use of these parameters in differential diagnosis. RESULTS Before the start of antibiotic treatment, serum procalcitonin and tumor necrosis factor alpha levels were found to be higher in acute bacterial meningitis compared with viral meningiti...

AIM The aim of this study was to evaluate the predictive value of resistin and visfatin in neonatal sepsis, and to compare these adipocytokines with C-reactive protein (CRP), procalcitonin and interleukin 6 (IL-6). DONORS AND METHODS A total of 62 term or near term infants with sepsis proven by positivity of blood culture, and 43 healthy infants were included in this study. RESULTS There we...

BACKGROUND Procalcitonin (PCT) kinetics is a good prognosis marker in infectious diseases, but few studies of children sepsis have been performed. OBJECTIVES The aim of our study was to examine kinetics of procalcitonin, to evaluate its relationship with severity and to analyze its usefulness in the prediction of multiorgan dysfunction syndrome (MODS). PATIENTS AND METHODS Prospective obser...

Objective: To detail the biology and diagnostic usefulness of serum procalcitonin in critical illness. Data sources: A review of articles published in peer reviewed journals from 1990 to 2001 and identified through a MEDLINE search on procalcitonin. Summary of review: Procalcitonin (PCT) is a prohormone of calcitonin. Serum levels are elevated during sepsis and have been identified as a potenti...

Double balloon enteroscopy (DBE) was introduced 15 years ago. The complications of diagnostic DBE are rare, acute pancreatitis is most redoubtable one (incidence about 0.3%). Hyperamylasemia after DBE seems to be a rather common condition respectively. The most probable cause seems to be a mechanical straining of the pancreas. We tried to identify patients in a higher risk of acute pancreatitis...

INTRODUCTION Established biomarkers for the diagnosis of sepsis are procalcitonin, interleukin 6, and C-reactive protein. Although sepsis evokes changes of coagulation and fibrinolysis, it is unknown whether thromboelastometry can detect these alterations. We investigated whether thromboelastometry variables are suitable as biomarkers for severe sepsis in critically ill adults. METHODS In the...

OBJECTIVE Some patients with the phenotype of severe sepsis may have no overt source of infection or identified pathogen. We investigated whether a procalcitonin-based algorithm influenced antibiotic use in patients with non-microbiologically proven apparent severe sepsis. DESIGN This multicentre, randomised, controlled, single-blind trial was performed in two parallel groups. SETTING Eight...

OBJECTIVE To determine whether procalcitonin is a reliable diagnostic and prognostic marker in septic shock compared with nonseptic shock. DESIGN Prospective controlled trial. SETTING Intensive care unit of the Avicenne Teaching Hospital, Bobigny, France. PATIENTS All patients admitted to our intensive care unit over a 12-month period with clinical evidence of shock. INTERVENTIONS None....