Clinical significance of serum procalcitonin levels on admission in patients with cirrhosis of liver

Abstract : Procalcitonin is a protein, calcitonin precursor which in healthy individuals is produced by cells of thyroid gland. The halflife of procalcitinin in serum is 20-24 hrs and it is used as a marker of infection. Incidence of bacterial infections in patients with liver disease is high. Due to liver dysfunction immune reactivity is significantly impaired and bacterial infections are more frequent. Clinical signs of infection such as fever or tachycardia are often non-specific or even absent. Procalcitonin has greatest sensitivity(85 percent) and specificity(91 percent) for differentiating patients with SIRS from those with sepsis. Procalcitonin is a useful biochemical marker to differentiate sepsis from other non-infectious causes of systemic inflammatory response syndrome.