Chemotherapy
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Comparative Study Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical Trial
Procalcitonin and C-reactive protein in infective endocarditis: correlation with etiology and prognosis.
The aim of this study was to investigate the diagnostic values of serum procalcitonin (PCT) and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels in infective endocarditis (IE) and to correlate them with the etiology of the disease and the prognosis of the patients. ⋯ As a result, this study suggests that in the diagnosis of IE, it would be beneficial to use PCT, besides TEE, culture and other clinical criteria, for its high specificity and positive predictive value in comparison to CRP. This study also suggests that in determining the response to medical treatment in the follow-up period, PCT could be a more valuable parameter than CRP, as PCT has a high prognostic value and is a good indicator for valve replacement in addition to the major criteria. Furthermore, serum PCT levels may help the physician to decide on the antimicrobial therapy combination before obtaining the culture results, or in situations in which the agent could not be isolated yet.