Use of procalcitonin as indicator of nonviral infections in transplantation and related immunologic diseases

Procalcitonin (PCT) is a new potential and reliable marker for detection of bacterial, fungal and protozoal infection. It allows to differentiate these from viral infection and early rejection in heart, heart-lung, lung, and liver transplant recipients. Procalcitonin is a propeptide of calcitonin with unknown origin that is not detectable in plasma of healthy individuals. It increases rapidly and significantly under severe bacterial, fungal, and protozoal infections in all transplant patients. Magnitude of value is clearly associated with the severity of infection. The release of PCT does not depend on the type of pathogens, even though Aspergillum resulted in the highest levels measured. Sensitivity, specificity, and prognostic value of PCT were remarkable. PCT provides vital information early to clinicians and allows them to improve the management of bacterial and fungal infections in immunocompromised transplant recipients. PCT facilitates and improves the outcome of survival rate and the quality of life in the postoperative period. Thus, PCT is a highly specific analyte that shows significant diagnostic validities when nonviral infections are compared with rejection episodes.