• Revue médicale suisse · Mar 2005

    Review

    [Usefulness of procalcitonin in adults and children].

    • Alain Gervaix and Jérôme Pugin.
    • Service de pédiatrie, Département de pédiatrie, Hôpitaux universitaires de Genĕve. alain.gervaix@hcuge.ch
    • Rev Med Suisse. 2005 Mar 30;1(13):872-4, 877.

    AbstractIn febrile children and adults, it is frequently difficult, based on the sole clinical examination, to differentiate a bacterial illness from systemic inflammatory syndromes or severe viral infections. However, the positive and rapid diagnosis of a severe bacterial infection or a sepsis is essential to initiate lifesaving therapies. Among the numerous infectious biomarkers that have recently been investigated, procalcitonin has the best diagnostic yield. Plasma levels below 0.5 microg/l usually rule out a severe bacterial disease, whereas values above 2 microg/l are strongly indicative of a bacterial sepsis. The usefulness and the limitations of the measurement of procalcitonin as a diagnostic and a prognostic tool during severe bacterial infections are discussed in this paper.

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