The current article adopts the findings from a recent the study that assessed the clinical characteristics of 280 patients with suspected sepsis/bacteremia, measured PCT concentrations in blood samples and compared laboratory findings between PCT-positive and -negative patients to evaluate the predictive potential of PCT as against laboratory cultures. FOREGROUND Procalcitonin (PCT) and C-reactive protein serve as biomarkers of infection in patients with sepsis/bacteremia. The detection of infectious bacteria in blood cultures is important for a correct diagnosis and treatment for sepsis, however, require at least 1–2 days and are therefore impractical as a rapid test.
Further, although CRP is a popular inflammatory marker, blood concentrations increase gradually and also nonspecifically in patients with inflammatory states such as collagen disorders and malignancies. Levels of PCT do…
