Introduction
Early diagnosis and appropriate therapy of sepsis is a daily challenge in the emergency room and in intensive care units. Today various therapeutic strategies are known to improve survival in patients with sepsis, therefore, rapid and accurate diagnosis is essential. Sepsis suffers from a lack of specific clinical signs and symptoms, thus risk stratification is of imminent importance. Microbiological cultures require time, do not reflect the host response of systemic inflammation nor the onset of organ dysfunction, and may not be positive in sepsis patients for a number of reasons.
PCT levels rise rapidly (within 6 - 12 hours) after an infectious insult with systemic consequences. Since the outcome in patients with sepsis can significantly be improved if adequate therapy is started early, the measurement of PCT to assist with risk assessment is recommended in all patients in whom severe sepsis or septic shock is suspected.
A large database of 10 years of medical literature and clinical experience is available for PCT. This biomarker is now widely used in Europe for the diagnosis and monitoring of sepsis and evaluation of the systemic inflammatory response in the clinical arena.