IMR Press / RCM / Volume 17 / Issue 3-4 / DOI: 10.3909/ricm0824

Reviews in Cardiovascular Medicine (RCM) is published by IMR Press from Volume 19 Issue 1 (2018). Previous articles were published by another publisher in Open Access under a CC-BY (or CC-BY-NC-ND) licence, and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with MedReviews, LLC.

Open Access Case Review
Utility of Procalcitonin for Diagnosis of Superimposed Infections in Patients With Acute Heart Failure
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1 Servicio de cardiología, Spain
2 Servicio de bioquímica clínica, Spain
3 Servicio de radiología, Hospital Clínico Universitario, Universitat de Valencia, Valencia, Spain
Rev. Cardiovasc. Med. 2016, 17(3-4), 144–148; https://doi.org/10.3909/ricm0824
Published: 30 September 2016
Abstract
Respiratory infections are well-known precipitant factors for heart failure decompensations. Nevertheless, the diagnosis of life-threatening infections, such as pneumonia, is challenging. Pneumonia and acute heart failure often display overlapping clinical findings and, in other cases, more accurate infection-related findings are missing. In recent years, procalcitonin has emerged as a promising tool for early and accurate diagnosis of pneumonia and, interestingly, for guiding antibiotic therapy in patients with acute heart failure. We discuss two cases of acute heart failure with high procalcitonin on admission and different clinical outcomes. In this setting, procalcitonin may be a useful tool for guiding antibiotic therapy. Further controlled studies are warranted.
Keywords
Procalcitonin
Acute heart failure
Concomitant infections
Procalcitonin-guided therapy
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