Procalcitonin applications management in the Biochemistry Emergency Laboratory

Abstract

Procalcitonin (PCT) is one of the best diagnostic markers of bacterial infection. PCT results greater than 0.5 mg/L are indicative of sepsis; its levels being related to the severity and mortality of the infectious condition. All requests with a joint application for C-reactive protein (CRP) and PCT during 2017 were analyzed. In most cases, although CRP was higher than the established cut-off point, PCT values were less than 0.5 mg/L. The results showed that, if PCT was performed exclusively in patients with CRP greater than or equal to 20 mg/L, all patients susceptible to septic processes could be recruited. Because of this, we propose that PCT should not be performed if there is no CRP greater than 20 mg/L, except in cases where there is clinical suspicion of sepsis, in neonates and in samples from the Intensive Care Unit in which the determination would always be made. In the months studied, 21.53% of PCT applications should have been canceled. This would have meant not performing unnecessary tests and a better use of the resources present in the Biochemistry Emergency Laboratory.