Journal of Bacteriology & Parasitology

The role of procalcitonin in community-acquired pneumonia: A literature review

International Congress on Bacteriology & Infectious Diseases

November 20-22, 2013 DoubleTree by Hilton Baltimore-BWI Airport, MD, USA

Mijung Lee

Accepted Abstracts: J Bacteriol Parasitol

Abstract:

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a significant clinical and public health problem. Recently attention has been paid to the potential for Procalcitonin (PCT) to differentiate the diagnosis and to indicate the prognosis of pneumonia. The purpose of this review of the literature is to evaluate the eligibility of PCT for defining typical bacterial infections and for predicting severity and mortality in trials for CAP. This review included ten published studies, six prospective cohort studies and four retrospective cohort studies. The literature review suggests that PCT has the ability to supplement clinical information to determine whether the etiology of the infection is likely to be bacterial. In addition, PCT seems to be superior to the most prevalent inflammatory biomarker, C-reactive protein, and also demonstrated a significant correlation between the current clinical scoring systems and actual mortality. Therefore, PCT with additional testing could potentially be used to differentiate pneumonia etiologic pathogens and predict the prognosis of the disease.

Biography :

Mijung Lee completed her BSN at The Armed Forces Nursing Academy in South Korea in 2006. She worked as a nurse at Nonsan Military Hospital from 2006-2008 and at the Capital Military Hospital in 2009. She completed her MSN with a Clinical Nurse Specialist focus in 2012 at University of Virginia School of Nursing. She currently is an Assistant Professor at The Armed Forces Nursing Academy in South Korea.