A major procalcitonin elevation without sepsis in a metastatic small cell lung carcinoma

Abstract

We report the case of a 54-year-old man with metastatic pulmonary neuroendocrine tumor associated with major procalcitonin (PCT) elevation without sepsis. Three lines of antibiotic therapies were successively introduced but had no positive effect on PCT kinetic and disease progression. Under palliative care, increasing of PCT level was constant during the hospitalization, along with major asthenia and pain and metastatic progression. PCT is an excellent biological marker of bacterial infection, both sensitive and specific. Nevertheless, we highlight here the existence of a frequent association between neuroendocrine tumors and elevation of PCT in the absence of sepsis.

Keywords: inflammation; neoplasm metastasis; procalcitonin; pulmonary neuroendocrine tumor; tumor.