Sepsis & Procalcitonin (PCT) AssaySiemens Healthineers aids in predicting the transition from infection to sepsis with the PCT assay.

Early identification of at-risk patients, early diagnosis, and appropriate therapy are daily challenges for clinicians based in the emergency department and other hospital departments because the signs and symptoms of sepsis are nonspecific, and thus it may be missed or confused with other medical conditions. The often rapid onset of sepsis can impede early diagnosis, reducing the critical window for implementation of effective therapeutic measures.

There is a definite clinical need for earlier detection of sepsis. Mortality risk after identification of severe sepsis or septic shock increases linearly the longer antibiotic administration is delayed. In comparison to treatment within the first hour, a delay of 6 hours or more increases the risk of mortality by over 50%.⁵

What is PCT?

• A protein that is normally produced in small amounts in the thyroid gland.
• In patients with sepsis, the protein is produced in large quantities by the liver, kidney, fat cells, and muscle.
• Increasing serum PCT concentrations indicate increased severity of infection and a worse prognosis for the patient.

Challenge

• Identifying patients with sepsis early, when treatment is most likely to be effective.
• Reducing high costs associated with treating patients with severe sepsis and septic shock.
• Differentiating sepsis from other inflammatory diseases, trauma, and other conditions, whose symptoms can mimic sepsis in conjunction with other laboratory findings and clinical assessments.
• Reducing unnecessary antibiotic usage and its associated costs and side effects.

ADVIA Centaur PCT* assay solution

• Achieve measurement of serum levels of the biomarker PCT, allowing physicians to rapidly identify patients with sepsis.
• Achieve early identification of sepsis allowing for treatment to be initiated sooner, potentially reducing costly complications associated with sepsis.
• Gain confidence in treatment decisions due to negative PCT results indicating antibiotics may not be necessary; in patients with bacterial infection, measurements of PCT helps guide treatment, helping ensure that patients receive optimum duration of antibiotics.⁶

The Siemens Healthineers Procalcitonin (PCT) assay* can help aid in the risk assessment of critically ill patients for progression to severe sepsis and septic shock.

The Surviving Sepsis Campaign, an initiative of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine and the Society of Critical Care Medicine, was developed to improve the management, diagnosis, and treatment of sepsis and to reduce the mortality rate from severe sepsis worldwide. The most recent evidence based guidelines were published in 2016.

Resources available from the campaign include:

• Resuscitation and sepsis management bundles: evidence-based guidelines for the management of severe sepsis and septic shock.
• Guidelines and instructions for implementing the campaign at medical facilities.
• Information for healthcare professionals.
• Information for the general public, patients, and their families.
• Educational opportunities.

To learn more about the Surviving Sepsis Campaign please visit: www.survivingsepsis.org