Procalcitonin as a diagnostic and prognostic marker for sepsis caused by intestinal infection: a case report

Y.-J. Liu, P. Du, J. Rao

Laboratory Department and Institute of Immunology, Wuhan Neurologist Hospital and General Hospital of The Yangtze River Shipping, Wuhan, Hubei, China. liuyanjie0411@yahoo.com.cn

 

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• Gastroenterology

BACKGROUND: In recent years, procalcitonin has emerged as a promising marker for bacterial infection, with the high sensitivity and specificity.

CASE PRESENTATION: This report presents a 76-year-old woman with fever, vomiting and diarrhea. The clinical and laboratory examination revealed that the patient had a suspected serious intestinal infection and sepsis. The extremely high level of procalcitonin and positive blood culture result confirmed our diagnosis.

CONCLUSIONS: Early identification of severe sepsis sometimes is very difficult. Procalcitonin is a useful tool in the early diagnosis of sepsis, differentiating from other inflammatory syndrome. The high PCT level (10 ng/ml) in this case could suggest serious bacterial infection and sepsis, and also predicts mortality and worse outcome.

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