Procalcitonin is a biomarker that has been gaining attention in recent years for its potential role in antimicrobial stewardship. It is a peptide hormone produced by the thyroid gland and can be used to help diagnose bacterial infections and guide treatment decisions. Procalcitonin levels can be measured and are used to determine the severity of an infection and whether antibiotics should be prescribed. This biomarker has been shown to reduce antibiotic use while still providing effective treatment for bacterial infections. As such, it has become an important tool for antimicrobial stewardship programs that aim to reduce unnecessary antibiotic use.

#Production of Procalcitonin:

PCT is a useful diagnostic biomarker, which is for bacterial infection compared to other Inflammatory markers like CRP, & WBCs. One other important factor to consider is that PCT is a Prohormone meaning that it gets produced automatically by the neuroendocrine medullary C -cells of the thyroid gland at a very low concentration(<0.05ng /ml).

PCT is a useful diagnostic biomarker, which is for bacterial infection
PCT is a Prohormone.

#Segregating the Type of Infection with the Help of PCT

The role of Procalcitonin in segregating the type of Infection depends on the quality of the procalcitonin produced. If the procalcitonin is produced by including the cytokines, such as IL-1β, IL-6, TNFα , it can be concluded that it has been agitated by the infections and the up-regulation of PCT correlates with the severity and extent of bacterial infections. On the contrary PCT production is attenuated by certain cytokines released in response to a Viral infection interferon-y. This helps us in segregating weather the infection is Viral or bacterial.

#Conclusion

PCT is specific for bacterial infection. The rapidity of its use after a bacterial infection is as early as 6h whereas the rapid decline with immune control on infection with the half-life of 24h (approx.). It not only helps in determine the deviation of antibiotic therapy which is based on serial measurement of PCT levels but is also very helpful in decision concerning discontinuation of antibiotic therapy in ICU patient.Several studies has shown that PCT guided discontinuing therapy report significantly more antibiotics free keys(2-4 days) without a negative effect on mortality.