It was shown in children that serum procalcitonin was the best marker to use to differentiate bacterial from viral meningitis. To evaluate procalcitonin in the diagnosis of acute bacterial and viral meningitis, we conducted a prospective study including adult patients who were suspected of having meningitis and who were admitted to an emergency department. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and serum le...

procalcitonin is widely used as a biomarker for diagnosis and prognosis for sepsis and infection as well as monitoring the response to antibiotic therapy. in this study we systematically reviewed the value of procalcitonin in diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis in patients with sepsis or infection.

BACKGROUND Lower respiratory tract infections are often treated with antibiotics without evidence of clinically relevant bacterial disease. Serum calcitonin precursor concentrations, including procalcitonin, are raised in bacterial infections. We aimed to assess a procalcitonin-based therapeutic strategy to reduce antibiotic use in lower respiratory tract infections with a new rapid and sensiti...

BACKGROUND Patients with nursing home acquired pneumonia (NHAP) present a distinct group of lower respiratory track infections with different risk factors, clinical presentation, and mortality rates. OBJECTIVES To evaluate the diagnostic value of clinical pulmonary infection score (CPIS), C-reactive protein, and procalcitonin and to compare the accuracy of pneumonia severity scores (confusion...

OBJECTIVE To determine the role of serum procalcitonin levels in predicting ascites infection in hospitalized cirrhotic and non-cirrhotic patients. METHODS A total of 101 patients (mean age: 63.4 ± 1.3, 66.3% were males) hospitalized due to cirrhosis (n=88) or malignancy related (n=13) ascites were included in this study. Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP, 19.8%), culture-negative SBP (3...

BACKGROUND Nosocomial pneumonia is a difficult diagnosis to establish in the intensive care unit setting, due to the non-specific nature of the clinical and radiographic findings. Procalcitonin is a circulating biomarker that may become elevated in the presence of bacterial infection. METHODS We conducted a prospective single-center cohort study at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, a 1,200-bed urban te...

CONTEXT Procalcitonin, a well-known biomarker of sepsis and bacterial infections, is produced by adipose tissue and has potential as a marker for chronic low-grade inflammation. OBJECTIVES The objective of this study was to investigate whether plasma procalcitonin levels in the normal range are associated with obesity, insulin resistance, and metabolic syndrome (MS) in the general population....

1. Sachse C, Dressler F, Henkel E. Increased serum procalcitonin in newborn infants without infection. Clin Chem 1998;44:1343–4. 2. Monneret G, Labaune J, Isaac C, Bienvenu F, Putet G, Bienvenu J. Procalcitonin and C-reactive protein levels in neonatal infections. Acta Paediatr 1997;86:209–12. 3. Chiesa C, Panero A, Rossi N, Stegagno M, De Giusti M, Osborn J F, Pacifico L. Reliability of procal...

INTRODUCTION Procalcitonin concentrations are considered as a component of the inflammatory response and as an acute-phase marker, after shock or tissue injury (i.e. burn, trauma, surgery) or infections and sepsis. No data are so far available on the dynamics of procalcitonin levels in patients with cardiogenic shock following ST-elevation myocardial infarction, with no clinical or laboratory s...