Clinical Applications

l  Diagnosis of sepsis

As PCT levels are highly specific for sepsis caused by bacterial infection, PCT can be used as the biomarker to diagnose sepsis (at a cut-off of >2ng/mL) and differentiate severe bacterial infection.

l  Assess the severity and progression of sepsis

It has been shown that increasing levels of PCT > (> 2 ng/mL) or  are associated with increased disease severity  Therefore PCT may be used to monitor disease progression.

l   Sepsis prognosis

A rapid decline in PCT after treatment is usually associated with a favorable prognosis, whereas no reduction in PCT levels suggest a poor prognosis.

l    PCT guided use of antibiotic therapy

²  As an indicator of when to start antibiotic treatment.

²  As a marker to judge the efficacy of antibiotics.