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- David N Gilbert.
- 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
- Clin. Infect. Dis. 2011 May 1; 52 Suppl 4: S346-50.
AbstractSerum 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.
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