NCT01085994

Procalcitonin Monitoring May Decrease Antibiotic Use in the Intensive Care Unit

Procalcitonin-guided Algorithms of Antibiotic Stewardship in the Intensive Care Unit: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

• Status: Unknown
• Phase: —
• Study type: Observational
• Enrollment: —
• Sponsor: University of Athens · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: —
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Sepsis is common and is associated with significant mortality, morbidity and health-care costs. Unfortunately, its diagnosis is not straightforward because its signs and symptoms are neither specific nor sensitive; in addition, microbiological cultures lack specificity, sensitivity and are plagued by high turn-around times. Because the delay in the institution of antimicrobial therapy may be deleterious, broad-spectrum antibiotics are widely used in ICU-patients, even when they are not needed. Procalcitonin may not be the long sought for bio-marker to establish the diagnosis of sepsis but may help decrease the duration of the administered antibiotic courses once they are started.

Detailed description

Recently, a number of studies have shown the utility of procalcitonin (PCT) measurements in reducing the duration of antibiotic treatment in patients with respiratory tract infections presenting to the primary care setting or the emergency department. However, it remains unclear if a similar strategy can be effectively and safely implemented in the critical care setting. We attempt to address the controversy on this issue, by collecting, analyzing and interpreting the currently available relevant evidence. To this end, a systematic review and meta-analysis of the randomized controlled trials reporting on the outcomes of critically ill septic patients managed with or without a procalcitonin-based algorithm will be performed.

Conditions

• Sepsis

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Literature search	Literature search followed by systematic review and meta-analysis

Timeline

• Start date: 2010-01-01
• Primary completion: 2010-02-01
• Completion: 2010-03-01
• First posted: 2010-03-12
• Last updated: 2010-10-07

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Greece