Review

Pro/Con debate: Is procalcitonin useful for guiding antibiotic decision making in critically ill patients?

Yahya Shehabi¹ and Ian Seppelt²

¹Acute Care Clinical Program, Intensive Care and Research, Prince of Wales Hospital, University of New South Wales, Barker Street, Randwick, NSW 2031, Australia

²Department of Intensive Care Medicine, Nepean Hospital, University of Sydney, Derby Street, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia

author email corresponding author email

Critical Care 2008, 12:211doi:10.1186/cc6860

Published:	2 May 2008

Abstract

You are concerned about the escalating use of antibiotics in your intensive care unit (ICU). This has put a strain on the ICU budget and is possibly resulting in the emergence of resistant bacteria. You review the situation with your team and one suggestion is to consider using biomarkers such as procalcitonin to better guide appropriate antibiotic decision making.