Loading...
Antibiotics prescribed in intensive care units (ICUs) are associated with higher costs, multidrug-resistant pathogens, and superinfections with organisms such as Clostridium difficile. The optimal duration of antibiotic treatment is unknown and often is based on expert opinion or consensus guidelines. Measuring procalcitonin (PCT), an inflammatory marker that is stimulated primarily by bacterial endotoxins and cytokines, might help distinguish bacterial infection and sepsis from noninfectious causes of systemic inflammatory response syndrome. However, previous studies of PCT have been too small to rule out harm, and cost-benefit evaluations have been limited in scope.
In a systematic review, researchers evaluated five randomized trials in wh…