Procalcitonin Testing Reduce Unnecessary Antibiotic Use in Bacterial Infection

Conventional diagnostic test have limitations to deferential diagnosis in clinical suspicion of bacterial
infection cases, that in some cases lead to inappropriate antibiotic therapy and increases antibiotic resistance.
Methods: This paper is narrative review that explores the usefulness of procalcitonin (PCT) in the diagnosis of
bacterial infections. Reslut: Serum PCT levels are of useful test as a biomarker in patients with bacterial
infections for several reasons. Initial rise of PCT levels due to bacterial infection, subsequent sequential PCT
levels can be used to assess the effectiveness and duration of antibiotic therapy. Based on clinical researches
results, in bacterial infections, promising good results obtained when use of PCT used as differential diagnostic
test. Conclusion: With the data and information available for PCT, further intervention studies are needed before
use of PCT in clinical routine tests