title: Pro/Con debate: is procalcitonin useful for guiding antibiotic decision making in critically ill patients?
abstract: You are concerned about the escalating use of antibiotics in your intensive care unit (ICU). This has put a strain on the ICU budget and is possibly resulting in the emergence of resistant bacteria. You review the situation with your team and one suggestion is to consider using biomarkers such as procalcitonin to better guide appropriate antibiotic decision making.
authors.affiliation: Acute Care Clinical Program, Intensive Care and Research, Prince of Wales Hospital, University of New South Wales, Barker Street, Randwick, NSW 2031, Australia. y.shehabi@unsw.edu.au
authors.forename: Yahya
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shehabi
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Seppelt
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002116:Calcitonin / Q000097:blood*; D015740:Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D003422:Critical Care / Q000379:methods*; D016638:Critical Illness; D003657:Decision Making; D006801:Humans; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D015415:Biomarkers; C000606589:CALCA protein, human; D011498:Protein Precursors; D002116:Calcitonin; D015740:Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide