Justificación de la aplicación práctica de la procalcitonina en adultos sépticos hospitalizados: revisión bibliográfica.

Abstract

Introduction: Procalcitonin (PCT) is a protein precursor of the hormone calcitonin, has become a promising biomarker for assessing the presence of bacterial infections and severity in patients with sepsis; the Infectious Diseases Society of America refers that procalcitonin is useful for differentiating the causative agent of infection, being useful for monitoring but not for therapeutic employment. Objective: To establish the practical application of procalcitonin in hospitalized septic patients with bacterial etiology by means of a bibliographic review for the use of antibiotic therapy. Methodology: Research with positivist paradigm of quantitative approach, basic type, non-experimental design, documentary modality and interpretative methodology, applying inclusion criteria and Boolean operators to a total of 60 bibliographic reviews from Pubmed, Elsevier and Scielo using PRISMA methodology. Results and Discussion: There is a practical application of PCT in hospitalized septic patients, this was evidenced by the fact that most of the patients underwent a PCT test at the beginning of their hospital stay, finding its usefulness for antibiotic management; however, no guidelines were found to justify its use. Conclusion: it is evident that there is no justification for the practical application of procalcitonin in the management of the septic patient, its usefulness is little and it is scarcely demonstrated, however, the inclinations of its use are various and more studies are required to be able to issue a clear position on its usefulness.