Trial reportCritical care explorations2024
Procalcitonin-Guided Management and Duration of Antibiotic Therapy in Critically Ill Cancer Patients With Sepsis (Pro-Can Study): A Randomized Controlled Trial.
Trial report in Critical care explorations, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Efficacy and Safety of Procalcitonin-Guided Antibiotic Therapy versus Standard of Care for Sepsis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Medical principles and practice : international journal of the Kuwait University, Health Science Centre · 2026Pooled it
- Impact of Procalcitonin Testing on Antibiotic Use in Patients Hospitalized With Community-Acquired Pneumonia: A Multi-Hospital Cohort Study.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2026Article
- The Role and Importance of Procalcitonin (PCT) Testing in Rational Antibiotic Prescribing and Antibiotic Stewardship Programs.Immunity, inflammation and disease · 2026Review
- Risk Factors for Sepsis in Pediatric All During Induction Chemotherapy-Induced Neutropenia: A Single-Center Retrospective Study.Infection and drug resistance · 2026Article
- Procalcitonin levels in septic and nonseptic subjects with AKI and ESKD prior to and during continuous kidney replacement therapy (CKRT).Critical care (London, England) · 2025Article
- Procalcitonin and interleukin- 6 in predicting prognosis of sepsis patients with cancer.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesTo evaluate the effect of procalcitonin-guided management on the duration of antibiotic therapy in critically ill cancer patients with sepsis.
designRandomized, controlled, single-blinded trial.
settingA comprehensive multidisciplinary cancer hospital in Jordan. PATIENTS: Adults with cancer treated in the ICU who were started on antibiotics for suspected infection, met the SEPSIS-3 criteria, and were expected to stay in the ICU greater than or equal to 48 hours.
interventionsPatients were randomized to the procalcitonin-guided or standard care (SC) arms. All patients had procalcitonin measured daily, up to 5 days or until ICU discharge or death. For the procalcitonin arm, a procalcitonin-guided algorithm was provided to guide antibiotic management, but clinicians were allowed to override the algorithm, if clinically indicated. In the SC arm, ICU clinicians were blinded to the procalcitonin levels. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN
resultsPrimary outcome was time to antibiotic cessation. We also evaluated the number of antibiotic-free days at 28 days, hospital discharge, or death, whichever came first, and antibiotic defined daily doses (DDDs). We enrolled 77 patients in the procalcitonin arm and 76 in the SC arm. Mean age was 58 ± 14 (sd) years, 67% were males, 74% had solid tumors, and 13% were neutropenic. Median (interquartile range [IQR]) Sequential Organ Failure Assessment scores were 7 (6-10) and 7 (5-9) and procalcitonin concentrations (ng/mL) at baseline were 3.4 (0.8-16) and 3.4 (0.5-26), in the procalcitonin and SC arms, respectively. There was no difference in the median (IQR) time to antibiotic cessation in the procalcitonin and SC arms, 8 (4-11) and 8 (5-13), respectively (p = 0.463). Median (IQR) number of antibiotic-free days were 20 (17-24) and 20 (16-23), (p = 0.484) and total DDDs were 1541.4 and 2050.4 in the procalcitonin and SC arms, respectively.
conclusionsIn critically ill cancer patients with sepsis, procalcitonin-guided management did not reduce the duration of antibiotic treatment.
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