Intensive care medicine
-
Intensive care medicine · Mar 2000
Procalcitonin for differential diagnosis of graft rejection and infection in patients with heart and/or lung grafts.
Investigation of the reliability of Procalcitonin (PCT) for differential diagnosis of acute rejections and non-viral infections in heart and lung transplanted patients. ⋯ PCT is a reliable predictor with discriminating power for non-viral systemic infections in patients after heart and/or lung transplantation. PCT allows an early differential diagnosis between rejection (AR) and bacterial/fungal infection (IF) and thus a rapid and focused therapeutic intervention. It avoids unnecessary antibiotic treatment which could be toxic for the graft itself in patients with rejection only. PCT provides vital information early to clinicians and allows them to improve the management of bacterial/fungal infections in immunocompromized transplant patients. PCT thus facilitates and improves the outcome of survival rate and the quality of life in the postoperative period of patients with heart and/or lung grafts.
-
Intensive care medicine · Mar 2000
Procalcitonin as a marker of nosocomial infections in the neonatal intensive care unit.
To determine accuracy of procalcitonin concentrations for diagnosing nosocomial infections in critically ill neonates. ⋯ Measurement of PCT concentrations may be useful for early diagnosis and monitoring of infectious complications in neonates during their stay in the neonatal intensive care unit.