The clinical significance of serum procalcitonin in the diagnosis of infectious diseases

Objective: To investigate the clinical significance of serum procalcitonin (PCT) in the diagnosis of infectious diseases. Methods: Serum PCT were measured by semi quantitative solid phase immunoassay, and serum concentration of PCT levels were categorized into four groups:0.5?ng /ml, 0.5-2?ng /ml, 2.0-10.0?ng /ml and ≥10?ng /ml. A total of 342 patients with various infectious diseases were enrolled in this study. Results: Take serum PCT ≥0.5ng /ml as a threshold, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, positive likelihood ratio and negative likelihood ratio of the test in diagnosing bacterial infectious diseases were 75.0%,70.2%,45.0% ,89.6%,2.51 and 0.35, respectively. Conclusions: The results suggest that serum PCT is a marker for the cliagnosis bacterial infections,it is better than white blood cell count ,and serum PCT level may be used as an indicator for antibacterial therapy.