Engelsk titel: Procalcitonin as a marker of severe bacterial infection in children
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Författare:
Schroder H
;
Lodahl D
Email: hsa@sks.aaa.dk
Språk: Dan
Antal referenser: 32
Dokumenttyp:
Översikt
UI-nummer: 04101348
Sammanfattning
In children, the signs of severe bacterial infection may be nonspecific. In such a situation the clinician may need a fast, sensitive and specific marker of the infection. Procalcitonin (PCT) is a promising marker of invasive bacterial infection in children and may have prognostic significance for the infection's outcome. The majority of publications on neonatal sepsis, sepsis and meningitis after the neonatal period and bacterial pneumonia have concluded that PCT is a sensitive and specific marker of severe bacterial infections and generally better than CRP in differentiating between viral and bacterial infections. The increase in PCT after the start of infection is faster than that of CRP, and within the first 12-24 hours after admission the PCT increases faster than the CRP. Furthermore, the decrease in PCT after the initiation of appropriate antibiotic therapy is faster than that of CRP. In a clinical situation with many competing causes of severe illness, serial measurements of PCT may provide further information on the infectious disease. There are a number of well-defined clinical situations (e.g., neonatal sepsis, sepsis and meningitis after the neonatal period and bacterial pneumonia) in which PCT may be a significant marker of bacterial infection, provided that analysis is readily available.