Use of procalcitonin in patients with various degrees of chronic kidney disease including renal replacement therapy.

Procalcitonin (PCT) has been shown to be a useful surrogate marker in identifying patients with various bacterial infections. PCT has been studied as a diagnostic marker in differentiating bacterial pneumonia from other respiratory conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbations or viral pneumonia. Differentiating bacterial from nonbacterial pneumonia using PCT has shown to reduce antibiotic usage, length of stay, and antibiotic-related adverse effects. PCT has also been studied in patients with sepsis in an effort to reduce unnecessary antibiotic usage and decrease the length of antibiotic therapy. This article focuses on the use of PCT in patients with various degrees of chronic kidney disease in addition to various forms of dialysis, as chronic kidney disease may alter baseline levels of PCT and thus result in inappropriate use of PCT in this population.