Procalcitonin to Reduce Antibiotic Exposure in Acutely Ill Patients

Procalcitonin is a calcitonin precursor hormone that appears to be quite specific for severe bacterial infection. Some reports describe the use of procalcitonin in determining the need for antibiotic use in patients seen in emergency departments or in other clinical settings.^[2,3] These reports show that:

• Procalcitonin levels correlate with invasive bacterial infection;
• Levels increase within 3 hours of clinical expression;
• Levels are not increased with viral infections or other inflammatory conditions such as lupus, inflammatory bowel disease, etc; and
• Corticosteroids and other anti-inflammatory drugs also have no effect on procalcitonin levels.

The purpose of this study was to determine if monitoring procalcitonin levels can guide antibiotic treatment in seriously ill patients.