What is a procalcitonin test used for?
The procalcitonin test is useful in helping to detect sepsis and severe bacterial infections in the early stages and to distinguish between a bacterial infection and other non-bacterial causes of signs and symptoms in a seriously ill person.
What is a normal procalcitonin level?
Plasma levels of PCT in healthy individuals are quite low (<0.1 ng/mL) [15]. To exclude sepsis and systemic inflammation, a concentration of ≤0.2 ng/mL is a useful reference range. As a cut-off for the diagnosis of sepsis, plasma levels of ≥0.5 ng/mL are interpreted as abnormal and suggest sepsis.
What tube is used for procalcitonin?
| PROCALCITONIN | |
|---|---|
| ORDERING INFORMATION: | Geisinger Epic Procedure Code: LAB2920 Geisinger Epic ID: 48115 |
| Preferred collection container: | 3 mL green/yellow-top (plasma separator) tube |
| Alternate Collection Container: | 3.5 mL gold-top (serum separator) tube |
| Specimen required: | 0.5 mL plasma (preferred) or serum |
What can increase procalcitonin?
Factors which may cause a raised PCT apart from a bacterial infection include recent major surgery,14 severe trauma,15 severe burns16 and prolonged cardiogenic shock. However, in the absence of infection, these patients should have decreasing PCT levels on subsequent measurements.
Why does procalcitonin increase in bacterial infection?
Procalcitonin is the peptide precursor to calcitonin. Normal levels vary by laboratory but are very low in the healthy patient. The level of procalcitonin rises in response to a proinflammatory stimulus and is significantly increased in bacterial infections.
What is difference between CRP and procalcitonin?
PCT can be used as a prognostic marker as its levels correlate with bacterial load and severity of infection, which is not the case for CRP. PCT has a plasma elimination half-life of 24–35 hours (vs 48 hours for CRP), which makes daily measurement of the levels clinically significant.
Does procalcitonin need to be on ice?
Storage Instructions Freeze; stable at room temperature for 24 hours. Stable refrigerated for 48 hours or frozen for three months.
Does procalcitonin increase in viral infection?
Distinct from CRP and other acute-phase reactants, existing data suggest that PCT levels rarely increase in response to viral infections, indicating that PCT may be useful for discrimination between bacterial and viral infections.
How reliable is procalcitonin?
Procalcitonin has good discriminatory value for distinguishing between viral and bacterial infections, and results can be obtained in hours or less. In patients with community-acquired pneumonia, procalcitonin is about 65 to 70 percent accurate in distinguishing bacterial from viral pathogens [24].