ReviewBMC medicine2011
Procalcitonin for diagnosis of infection and guide to antibiotic decisions: past, present and future.
Review in BMC medicine, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 6 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 209 papers, 10 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Impact of Measuring Serum Procalcitonin Levels on Duration of Antimicrobial Therapy in Critical Care Patients With Suspected Pneumonia
Evaluation of Procalcitonin in the Early Antibiotic Therapy Interruption in Patient With Bacterial Pulmonary infeCtion and Decompensated Acute Heart Failure
Diagnostic Performance of Plasma Procalcitonin in Screening for Contamination When Detecting Potential Contaminants in Blood Cultures
Procalcitonin Protocol Use to Guide Antibiotic Therapy Duration in the Intensive Care Unit
Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial of Shorter Versus Extended Course of Antibiotic Therapy for Necrotizing Soft Tissue Infections
Comparative Diagnostic Accuracy of Procalcitonin Versus Serum Zinc as Biomarkers for the Diagnosis of Ventilator Acquired Pneumonia in Adults Admitted to the ICU
Who cites it
209 citing papers in PubMed, 10 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 517 citations in OpenAlex.
- Non-Infectious Causes for Elevated Procalcitonin.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2026Pooled it
- Biomarkers and outcomes of COVID-19 hospitalisations: systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ evidence-based medicine · 2021Pooled it
- Accuracy of pancreatic stone protein for the diagnosis of infection in hospitalized adults: a systematic review and individual patient level meta-analysis.Critical care (London, England) · 2021Pooled it
- Inflammatory and hematologic markers as predictors of severe outcomes in COVID-19 infection: A systematic review and meta-analysis.The American journal of emergency medicine · 2021Pooled it
- Association between markers of immune response at hospital admission and COVID-19 disease severity and mortality: A meta-analysis and meta-regression.Journal of medical virology · 2021Pooled it
- Inflammatory Biomarkers Are Inaccurate Indicators of Bacterial Infection on Admission in Patients With Acute Exacerbation of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease-A Systematic Review and Diagnostic Accuracy Network Meta-Analysis.Frontiers in medicine · 2021Pooled it
- Procalcitonin in patients with severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): A meta-analysis.Clinica chimica acta; international journal of clinical chemistry · 2020Pooled it
- The Diagnostic and Prognostic Value of suPAR in Patients with Sepsis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Shock (Augusta, Ga.) · 2020Pooled it
- Procalcitonin for diagnosis of bacterial pneumonia in critically ill patients during 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic: a prospective cohort study, systematic review and individual patient data meta-analysis.Critical care (London, England) · 2014Pooled it
- The use of a standardized PCT-algorithm reduces costs in intensive care in septic patients - a DRG-based simulation model.European journal of medical research · 2011Pooled it
- Efficacy of curcumin gel as an adjunct to scaling and root planing on salivary procalcitonin level in the treatment of patients with chronic periodontitis: a randomized controlled clinical trial.BMC oral health · 2023Trial
- Procalcitonin kinetics to guide sequential invasive-noninvasive mechanical ventilation weaning in patients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and respiratory failure: procalcitonin's adjunct role.The Libyan journal of medicine · 2021Trial
- Influence of Prednisone on Inflammatory Biomarkers in Community-Acquired Pneumonia: Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Trial.Journal of clinical pharmacology · 2021Trial
- C-reactive protein or procalcitonin combined with rhinorrhea for discrimination of viral from bacterial infections in hospitalized adults in non-intensive care units with lower respiratory tract infections.BMC pulmonary medicine · 2021Trial
- Biomarkers from distinct biological pathways improve early risk stratification in medical emergency patients: the multinational, prospective, observational TRIAGE study.Critical care (London, England) · 2015Trial
- Procalcitonin and pyuria-based algorithm reduces antibiotic use in urinary tract infections: a randomized controlled trial.BMC medicine · 2015Trial
- Trial
- Procalcitonin-guided antibiotic use in acute exacerbations of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.International journal of medical sciences · 2013Trial
- Article
- The Great Mimicker: Acute Obstructive Uropathy as a Rare Manifestation of Long-Standing Pseudomyxoma Peritonei.Cureus · 2026Article
149 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
There are a number of limitations to using conventional diagnostic markers for patients with clinical suspicion of infection. As a consequence, unnecessary and prolonged exposure to antimicrobial agents adversely affect patient outcomes, while inappropriate antibiotic therapy increases antibiotic resistance. A growing body of evidence supports the use of procalcitonin (PCT) to improve diagnosis of bacterial infections and to guide antibiotic therapy. For patients with upper and lower respiratory tract infection, post-operative infections and for severe sepsis patients in the intensive care unit, randomized-controlled trials have shown a benefit of using PCT algorithms to guide decisions about initiation and/or discontinuation of antibiotic therapy. For some other types of infections, observational studies have shown promising first results, but further intervention studies are needed before use of PCT in clinical routine can be recommended. The aim of this review is to summarize the current evidence for PCT in different infections and clinical settings, and discuss the reliability of this marker when used with validated diagnostic algorithms.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.