Do We Need Procalcitonin for Sepsis?

Answer 1

YES. Globally, sepsis has been one of a major cause of acute illness and death. Delay in diagnosis and treatment of sepsis is responsible for increased death. So an early identification is of great importance to the later survival. In order to prove the presence of bacterial infection, serum biomarkers like procalcitonin (PCT) are advisable. As a marker of bacterial infection, PCT has a very high negative-predictive­ value. So it is useful to rule out sepsis in emergency department and critical care settings. Advantages of PCT compared with other biomarkers are as the following:

• its early and rapid increase in response to bacterial infections and sepsis
• improved accuracy of early clinical sepsis diagnosis
• utility for assessing effectiveness of sepsis treatment
• a role in antibiotic stewardship

So we can use PCT measurements for sepsis diagnosis. Like any biomarker, PCT is not perfect and has some limitations. The biggest is expensiveness. Also, it is not the single definitive test for sepsis diagnosis. Rather, it must be interpreted in context of medical history, physical examination, microbiological assessment, and other relevant laboratory parameters. For more information, you may turn to this website.   Keywords: procalcitonin sepsis

Answer 2

Absolutely, as a survivor of SEPHSIS, I think anything the "powers that be" can come up with, has to help and hopefully help with quicker diagnosis being made, which from what I'm told, is key to being a survivor! I am just so very happy to have made it through this horrible ordeal called SEPHSIS! Theres stil along way to go, there's pain issues, alot!, and more mobility issues due to loss of muscle tissue .  Its a very hard road. but I must find the beauty of it all, after all, this is where God placed me at this time of my life.  He did allow me to spend more time with my family,  I need to make the best of that and be grateful,  very grateful.