title: [Procalcitonin: a reliable marker for the diagnosis and monitoring of the course of bacterial infection].
abstract: The review is aimed at the importance of determining procalcitonin serum levels (S-PCT) in numerous infectious and non-infectious diseases. Detecting increased S-PCT is particularly important for differential diagnosis of systemic bacterial as well as fungal infections. High S-PCT concentrations are also of predictive value in severe sepsis and septic shock. S-PCT kinetics may be used for monitoring the effect of antibiotic therapy. When compared to the other routinely used markers of bacterial infection (i.e. C-reactive protein, white blood cell count and neutrophil percentage), S-PCT has higher sensitivity and specificity in predicting bacterial infection.
authors.affiliation: Dept. Infectious Diseases, 1st Med. Faculty, Charles University Prague, Czech Republic. michal.holub@lf1.cuni.cz
authors.forename: Michal
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Holub
authors.forename: Hanus
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rozsypal
authors.forename: Pavel
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chalupa
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; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; 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