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Review
. 2018 Jun 11;7(6):148.
doi: 10.3390/jcm7060148.

The Role of Procalcitonin in the Diagnosis of Meningitis: A Literature Review

Dimitrios Velissaris  1 , Martina Pintea  2 , Nikolaos Pantzaris  3 , Eirini Spatha  4 , Vassilios Karamouzos  5 , Charalampos Pierrakos  6 , Menelaos Karanikolas  7
Affiliations
Review

The Role of Procalcitonin in the Diagnosis of Meningitis: A Literature Review

Dimitrios Velissaris et al. J Clin Med. .

Abstract

Objective: To review the current published literature on the use of procalcitonin as a diagnostic and prognostic marker in adult patients with meningitis.

Methods: We conducted a PubMed search to identify all relevant publications regarding the diagnostic and prognostic value of serum procalcitonin in patients with a known or suspected central nervous system infection. We also reviewed the bibliographies of all identified manuscripts in an attempt to identify additional relevant references.

Results: A significant body of evidence suggests that serum procalcitonin has a promising role and can be a useful biomarker in the assessment of patients with meningitis.

Conclusions: Our literature review suggests that data on the role of Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) procalcitonin are limited, whereas serum procalcitonin (S⁻PCT) is probably a useful tool in the evaluation of patients with a known or suspected central nervous system infection and can help distinguish between bacterial and viral meningitis.

Keywords: antibiotic therapy; bacterial meningitis; biomarker; differential diagnosis; procalcitonin; viral meningitis.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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