Loading...
Previous trials of procalcitonin (PCT)-guided antibiotic therapy for lower respiratory tract infections have yielded mixed results and did not compare this strategy against guideline-based clinical assessments. To identify the optimal approach to limiting antibiotic exposure for emergency department patients with pneumonia, researchers in France randomized 285 such patients to antibiotic treatment guided by PCT levels or guideline-based clinical assessment.
Procalcitonin-guided care encouraged discontinuation of antibiotics when PCT levels were <0.25 µg/L, and strongly encouraged discontinuation for levels <0.1 µg/L. Clinical assessment–guided care encouraged discontinuation of antibiotics if pneumonia was deemed clinically unlikely at 24 ho…