[Clinical usefulness of procalcitonin measurement].

Procalcitonin (PCT) was initially described as a calcitonin prohormone and later shown to be a useful marker for identifying bacterial infection and sepsis. We evaluated PCT's clinical efficacy in assessing bacterial infection severity, measuring PCT and systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) markers in 180 subjects with suspected infection. PCT titer was higher with increasing infection severity. PCT was thus useful in identifying those in critical condition.