Novel applications for serum procalcitonin testing in clinical practice

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Procalcitonin has emerged as a reliable marker of acute bacterial infection in hospitalized patients and the assay has recently been incorporated into several clinical algorithms to reduce antimicrobial overuse, but its use in patients with end-organ dysfunction is controversial.

Areas covered: In this review, the authors examine what is known about procalcitonin testing in patients with organ dysfunction, including those with end-stage renal disease, congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and cirrhosis, and explore how the assay is now being used in the management of non-infectious diseases.

Expert commentary: Procalcitonin holds tremendous promise to identify a diverse set of medical conditions beyond those associated with acute bacterial infection, including post-surgical anastomotic leaks, acute kidney injury, and complications after intracerebral hemorrhage. The authors review recent studies examining procalcitonin in these areas and explore how the assay might be used to guide diagnosis and prognosis of non-infectious diseases in the near future.

KEYWORDS:

• Antibiotic stewardship
• acute kidney injury
• cerebral hemorrhage
• sepsis
• cirrhosis
• procalcitonin

Declaration of interest

MW McCarthy has served as a paid consultant to Allergan. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed. A reviewer on this manuscript has disclosed that their institution has received funding from Thermofisher and BioMerieux.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was not funded.