Ineffectiveness of Procalcitonin-Guided Antibiotic Therapy in Severely Critically Ill Patients

ijidonline.com August 30, 2019

Procalcitonin-guided (PCT) antibiotic therapy fails to decrease the mortality or length of stay (LOS) of critically ill patients with suspected or confirmed sepsis.

PCT-guided cessation of antibiotic therapy could reduce the mortality in patients with an average Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score of <8, but not in those with an average SOFA score of >8.

16 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) enrolling 6,452 critically ill patients were included in this analysis.

The relevant literature was searched in PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library covering the period from 2004 to August 2018. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were included if critically ill patients were treated with PCT-guided antibiotic therapy or standard care.