title: Procalcitonin as a biomarker in respiratory tract infection.
abstract: Serum procalcitonin (PCT) levels rapidly increase in patients with invasive bacterial disease. PCT levels increase faster than do C-reactive protein levels. Furthermore, a rapid decrease in the PCT level is supporting evidence that the source of the bacterial infection is responding to clinical management. In patients with community-acquired bacterial pneumonia, sequential PCT levels are useful as a guide to shorter courses of antimicrobial therapy. With use of emerging multiplex real-time polymerase chain reaction platforms for the detection of viral and bacterial respiratory pathogens, it should be possible to critically assess whether an elevated serum PCT level is a valid biomarker of invasive bacterial infection.
authors: Infectious Diseases and Earle A Chiles Research Institute, Providence Portland Medical Center and Oregon Health and Sciences University, Portland, Oregon 97213, USA. david.gilbert@providence.org
authors: David N
authors: DN
authors: Gilbert
mesh_terms: D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000175:diagnosis*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood*; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000032:analysis; D002116:Calcitonin / Q000097:blood*; D015740:Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide; D019411:Clinical Laboratory Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D016903:Drug Monitoring / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000097:blood*; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000175:diagnosis*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; C000606589:CALCA protein, human; D011498:Protein Precursors; D002116:Calcitonin; D002097:C-Reactive Protein; D015740:Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide