Procalcitonin used as a marker of infection in the intensive care unit

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
To determine the value of procalcitonin (ProCT) as a marker of infection in critically ill patients. Prospective, observational study. Medicosurgical department of intensive care (31 beds). One hundred eleven infected and 79 noninfected patients. None. ProCT and C-reactive protein (CRP) concentrations were monitored daily. The best cutoff values for ProCT and CRP were 0.6 ng/mL and 7.9 mg/dL, respectively. Compared with CRP, ProCT had a lower sensitivity (67.6 vs. 71.8), specificity (61.3 vs. 66.6), and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (0.66 vs. 0.78, p ProCT is not a better marker of infection than CRP in critically ill patients, but it can represent a useful adjunctive parameter to identify infection and is a useful marker of the severity of infection. (Crit Care Med 1999; 27:498-504)