BACKGROUND Predicting the need for intensive care among adults with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) remains challenging. METHODS Using a multicenter prospective cohort study of adults hospitalized with CAP, we evaluated the association of serum procalcitonin (PCT) concentration at hospital presentation with the need for invasive respiratory or vasopressor support (IRVS), or both, within 72...

INTRODUCTION Procalcitonin (PCT) biomarker is suggested to tailor antibiotic therapy in the medical intensive care unit (ICU) but studies in perioperative medicine are scarce. The aim of this study was to determine whether PCT reported thresholds are associated with the initial treatment response in perioperative septic shock secondary to intra-abdominal infection. METHODS This single ICU, ob...

BACKGROUND Procalcitonin (PCT), a precursor protein of the hormone calcitonin, is a sensitive inflammatory marker in human medicine, which is primarily used for diagnosis of bacterial sepsis, but is also useful in diagnosis of exacerbation of asthma and COPD. In this study, PCT was evaluated as a potential biomarker for different chronic pneumopathies in the horse using an equine specific ELISA...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Porphyria cutanea tarda (PCT) is a disorder of porphyrin metabolism associated with decreased activity of uroporphyrinogen decarboxylase (URO-D) in the liver. The relevance of iron in the pathogenesis of PCT is well established: iron overload is one of the factors that trigger the clinical manifestations of the disease and iron depletion remains the cornerstone of thera...

OBJECTIVES To measure the mass transfer and clearance of procalcitonin (PCT) in patients with septic shock during continuous venovenous hemofiltration (CVVH), and to assess the mechanisms of elimination of PCT. SETTING The medical department of intensive care. DESIGN A prospective, observational study. PATIENTS Thirteen critically ill patients with septic shock and oliguric acute renal fa...

BACKGROUND Procalcitonin (PCT) has emerged as a valuable marker of sepsis. The potential role of PCT in diagnosis and therapy monitoring of intravascular catheter-related bloodstream infections (CRBSI) in intensive care unit (ICU) is still unclear and was evaluated. METHODS Forty-six patients were included in the study, provided they were free of infection upon admission and presented the fir...

The objective of the present study was to investigate variations in the levels of interleukin (IL)-6, procalcitonin (PCT), and C-reactive protein (CRP) in children with severe bacterial infectious diseases and to analyze the correlation between the levels of IL-6 and PCT to determine the value of combined diagnosis with IL-6 and PCT. We analyzed 126 patients admitted to Xuzhou Children's Hospit...

OBJECTIVES Plasma concentration of procalcitonin (PCT) and its value in the diagnosis of infection in paediatric patients treated with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) are undefined. This study aimed to define the levels of PCT and C-reactive protein (CRP) in paediatric cardiac ECMO patients and to determine their role in predicting infection, severity of organ dysfunction and clinica...

BACKGROUND The first decision confronting clinicians in the management of patients with community acquired pneumonia (CAP) is whether the patient is to be hospitalized or not. We sought to validate the pneumonia scoring system and assess the power of procalcitonin (PCT) level to predict in-hospital mortality (IHM) and intensive vasopressor and respiratory support (IVRS) requirements in patients...

BACKGROUND: On 21 July 2004, the Healthcare Commission http://www.healthcarecommission.org.uk/ released its annual star ratings of the performance of NHS Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) in England for the year ending March 2004. The Healthcare Commission started work on 1 April 2004, taking over all the functions of the former Commission for Health Improvement http://www.chi.nhs.uk/, which had relea...