II. Indication
- Marker for Bacterial Infection
III. Physiology
- Peptide produced in the Thyroid, lung and intestin
- Calcitonin precursor (involved in calcium homeostasis)
- Remains at low levels when well
- Increases in inflammatory states
- Postulated to increase markedly in Bacterial Infection
IV. Efficacy: Adults
V. Efficacy: Children
- See Serious Bacterial Infection in Children (Occult Bacteremia)
- Variable efficacy, although initial studies had very high accuracy in septic children
- Test Sensitivity: 26-55% for Bacterial Infection
- Test Specificity: 75 to 82% for Bacterial Infection
- Interpretation
- PCT <0.5 ng/ml has a Negative Predictive Value for serious Bacterial Infection of 90%
- PCT >0.6 (and WBC >19k, blasts >1.8k, Neutrophils >13k) suggests serious Bacterial Infection
- References
VI. References
- Orman, Herbert, Spiegel in Herbert (2016) EM:Rap 16(10):12-3
- Dolatabadi (2015) Niger Med J 56(1):17-22 +PMID:25657488 [PubMed]
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Related Studies (from Trip Database) Open in New Window
| Concepts | Amino Acid, Peptide, or Protein (T116) , Biologically Active Substance (T123) |
| MSH | C029100 |
| SnomedCT | 418752001 |
| LNC | LP31682-5, MTHU015794 |
| English | calcitonin precursor polyprotein, Calcitonin, pro-, pro calcitonin, procalcitonin, Procalcitonin, Calcitonin precursor polyprotein, Procalcitonin (substance) |
| Spanish | procalcitonina (sustancia), procalcitonina |
