Viewing Study NCT00144638



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Study NCT ID: NCT00144638
Status: COMPLETED
Last Update Posted: 2005-09-05
First Post: 2005-09-01

Brief Title: Procalcitonin Increase Identifies Critically Ill Patients at High Risk of Mortality
Sponsor: Danish Procalcitonin Study Group
Organization: Danish Procalcitonin Study Group

Study Overview

Official Title: Procalcitonin Increase Identifies Critically Ill Patients at High Risk of Mortality
Status: COMPLETED
Status Verified Date: 2005-02
Last Known Status: None
Delayed Posting: No
If Stopped, Why?: Not Stopped
Has Expanded Access: False
If Expanded Access, NCT#: N/A
Has Expanded Access, NCT# Status: N/A
Acronym: None
Brief Summary: Procalcitonin a marker of infection has often been compared to clinical pictures as for instance clinical sepsis This has given som problems in the interpretation of these studies because of the lack of good Gold Standards for clinical sepsis We have decided to investigate the development from day to day of Procalcitonin in the blood of intensive care patients compared to the mortality

Hypothesis Procalcitonin increase after reaching a certain level predicts mortality in the Intensive Care Unit
Detailed Description: Sepsis is a major cause of mortality in the Intensive Care Unit ICU Efforts have been made to reduce the time needed to diagnose sepsis in order to reduce mortality from sepsis-related multi-organ dysfunction

Markers of inflammation such as C-reactive protein CRP and White Blood Cell count WBC have proved far from ideal in identifying critically ill patients who need antimicrobial therapy because the sensitivity and specificity for bacterial infection is low

Procalcitonin PCT is a 13 kDa 116 amino acid polypeptide initially described as a prohormone of Calcitonin a hormone of the calcium metabolism produced in the medullary C-cells of the Thyroid gland5-7 However recent studies demonstrated that the variant PCT associated with infection can be produced by other tissues

As kinetic studies on baboons and humans have shown a rapid release within 2-4 hours after injection of bacteria or bacterial toxins PCT is a substance which is released more rapidly than CRP The plasma half-life of PCT is close to 24 hours Measurements of PCT in healthy individuals have shown very low serum levels 005 ngml

In 1993 Assicot et al reported that elevated levels of serum procalcitonin were closely related to the onset of bacterial infection and seemingly correlated to severity of infection

Several clinical studies have detected a high PCT level in patients with evidence of systemic bacterial infection while relatively low PCT levels on the other hand occur in patients with only local bacterial infection or viral infection

Other studies have shown low to only moderately elevated PCT in uninfected patients after major surgery trauma and after myocardial infarction

A reduced usage of antimicrobial therapy has been demonstrated when treatment was guided by PCT in patients with suspected lower respiratory tract infection who were admitted to a medical emergency department Only few studies however have investigated the PCT day-to-day changes for several days in respect of the clinical outcome in a population at risk of contracting serious infections

The aim of the present study was to assess the ability of PCT- CRP- and leucocyte measurements in early identification of critically ill patients who are at high risk of mortality The study was a one-year study

Methods Patients From January 2 through December 2002 we conducted an observational study including all patients except livertransplanted patients admitted to the multi-disciplinary intensive care unit 4131 at Rigshospitalet Copenhagen University Hospital a secondary and tertiary reference hospital Patients were included on admittance to the ICU In cases of re-admittance only measurements from the first admittance were included in the study

When sepsis was suspected we performed culture samples from all suspected sites before antibiotic therapy was initiated Surveillance culture samples were performed twice a week from all patients including blood cultures from indwelling catheters

Data of co-morbidity and mortality were registered real-time and were verified via the central hospital register for Rigshospitalet Copenhagen University Hospital

In all analyses mortality was defined as all-cause mortality The primary endpoint was 90-day survival secondary endpoints were survival while admitted to the ICU and 30-day survival

Blood samples Blood samples for PCT measurements were collected by the nursing staff in the ICU on a daily basis between 600 am and 730 am in accordance with the assumed half life of PCT PCT analyses were performed by laboratory technicians at the Department of Clinical Microbiology using an immunoluminometric assay Lumitest-PCT BRAHMS Diagnostica Berlin Germany The threshold of detection was 01 ngml serum according to the manufacturer

Blood samples were collected as a routine test in accordance with the ethical procedures of the hospital

All blood samples were stored at 4o Celsius and were analysed within maximally 72 hours As a control of the PCT analysis and storage we made double determinations Ten blood samples were analysed single-blinded three times daily at a standardised time for three days

PCT-day-to-day change analysis Standard empiric antimicrobial treatment of sepsis in this ICU includes Meropenem and Ciprofloxacin when relevant supplemented with Metronidazole Vancomycin Linezolid and occasionally other antibiotics according to clinical findings patient tolerance suspected site of infection and bacterial cultures from foci and from surveillance cultures combined with susceptibility patterns Treatment of invasive fungal infection included Caspofungin Liposomal Amphotericin B or Voriconazole or combination therapy with these according to Candida species identification and susceptibility pattern from Minimal Inhibitory Concentration MIC in surveillance cultures

Study Oversight

Has Oversight DMC: None
Is a FDA Regulated Drug?: None
Is a FDA Regulated Device?: None
Is an Unapproved Device?: None
Is a PPSD?: None
Is a US Export?: None
Is an FDA AA801 Violation?: None