La procalcitonine (PCT) : Un outil diagnostique et de stratégie thérapeutique

Since 1990s, procalcitonin is of interest in infectious disease area as a marker of bacterial fungal and parasitic infections. The marker has been evaluated since near 20 years and the first published study reporting the usefulness of PCT in diagnosis of bacterial meningitidis, in 1993, permitted a new way for the diagnosis in infectious disease. In the recent years, assays have allowed to refine for better assessment of the measurement of PCT. It became a specific and sensitive marker of bacterial infections and for antibiotherapy dispensation. Various published studies have been carried out in intensive care patients to provide outcome informations in that sepis-related raised PCT levels were closely related to the inflammatory response to microbial invasion. The measurement of PCT level allows the early identification of patients with a high risk to develop severe sepsis. More recently, studies have shown the importance of the PCT level in a procalcitonin-guided strategy. PCT could represent in the future a potential marker of the good use of antibiotics.