Indian Journal of Critical Care Medicine Medknow Publications on behalf of the Indian Society of Critical Care Medicine ISSN: 0972-5229 EISSN: 1998-359x Vol. 15, Num. 3, 2011, pp. 197-197

Indian Journal of Critical Care Medicine, Vol. 15, No. 3, July-September, 2011, pp. 197

Letter to the Editor

Serum procalcitonin in sepsis

Viroj Wiwanitkit

Wiwanitkit House, Bangkhae, Bangkok, Thailand
Correspondence Address: Viroj Wiwanitkit, Wiwanitkit House, Bangkhae, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand, wviroj@yahoo.com

Code Number: cm11055

DOI: 10.4103/0972-5229.84893

Sir,

I read the recent publication on significance of serum procalcitonin (PCT) in sepsis with great interest. ^[1] Sudhir et al. concluded, "PCT is among the most promising sepsis markers, capable of complementing clinical signs and routine lab parameters suggestive of severe infection". ^[1] There are some issues in this publication. First, the author had used the immunochromatographic test for the semi-quantitative detection of PCT. This poses several problems. The PCT result can be only a semi-quantitative data and might not be probable for further statistical analysis (such as calculation on mean). Also, the quality control of this specific tool is still questionable. Second, in the women subjects, there can be several confounding factors affecting the PCT level. This should be well controlled and discussed.

References

1.	Sudhir U, Venkatachalaiah RK, Kumar TA, Rao MY, Kempegowda P. Significance of serum procalcitonin in sepsis. Indian J Crit Care Med 2011;15:1-5.  Back to cited text no. 1  [PUBMED]

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