The Procalcitonin and Survival Study
- Conditions
- Localized InfectionSepsisMultiple Organ Failure
- Interventions
- Procedure: Earlier therapeutic changes regarding infection
- Registration Number
- NCT00271752
- Lead Sponsor
- Danish Procalcitonin Study Group
- Brief Summary
This is a randomised, single blinded, multicentre trial to evaluate whether daily procalcitonin (PCT) measurements and immediate diagnostic and therapeutic responses to abnormal values and day-to-day changes can reduce the mortality of critically ill patients in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
- Detailed Description
Sepsis and complications to sepsis are major causes of mortality in critically ill patients. Rapid treatment of sepsis is of crucial importance for survival of patients. In the ICU, the infectious status of the patient is often difficult to assess because symptoms cannot be expressed (unconscious or sedated patients) and signs may present atypically because of immunologic incompetence and masking by the drugs given and thermo-therapy. Biological and biochemical markers of inflammation (White Blood Cells (WBC), C-reactive protein) may often be influenced by other parameters than infection, such as: trauma, surgery, other types of inflammation such as rheumatoid diseases (C-reactive protein) and gluco-corticosteroid treatment (WBC), and may be unacceptably slowly released after progression of an infection. At the same time, lack of a relevant antimicrobial therapy in an early course of infection may be fatal for the patient.
For these reasons, in the clinical setting, it is often necessary to initiate or adjust antimicrobial therapy on an unsure ground and the relevant therapy may in some situations be delayed for important hours or even days. Specific and rapid markers of bacterial infection have been sought for use in the ICU. Mortality in critically ill patients increases gravely when Procalcitonin levels increase from day to day (own submitted, though yet unpublished data). Low PCT levels have been shown to effectively rule out sepsis.
However, no randomised controlled trials have been conducted to show if mortality in critically ill patients can be reduced by using a strategy of daily standardised Procalcitonin measurements as an early detector of serious bacterial infection. Therefore evidence is presently not sufficient to introduce daily consecutive Procalcitonin measurements to guide the diagnostic and therapeutic management of patients admitted to the ICU .
The rationale for this trial is to assess the ability of daily Procalcitonin measurements to reduce the mortality of critically ill patients.
Recruitment & Eligibility
- Status
- COMPLETED
- Sex
- All
- Target Recruitment
- 1200
Fulfilment of all of the following three criteria:
- Male or female, aged > 18 years of age.
- Admitted to the participating Intensive Care Units (ICUs) at the following hospitals: Hvidovre Hospital, Bispebjerg Hospital, Amager Hospital, Herlev Hospital, Glostrup Hospital, and Gentofte Hospital
- Ability to understand and provide written informed consent to participate in this trial; or ability to understand and provide oral informed consent in the presence of at least one impartial witness who should sign and personally date the consent form; or the subject's legally acceptable representative can understand and provide written informed consent if the subject is not capable of this because of the present mental or physical condition of the subject.
A subject will NOT be eligible for inclusion in this trial if any of the following criteria apply:
- Subjects with known hyperbilirubinaemia (> 0.4 mg/ml) or hypertriglyceridaemia (> 10 g/l) since this can interfere with measurements. If subjects with unknown status on these points are included and have PCT measurements, the measuring equipment will detect these conditions.
- Subjects suffering from a blood disorder, where daily sampling of 7 ml of blood for a maximum of 28 days (210 ml distributed on 28 days) will be an inconvenience or a potential risk, which could compromise the safety of the subject.
- Subjects who are pregnant or breast feeding
The a priori probability of surviving with the normal recommended diagnostics and treatment with the presently available means to detect infections and, on the other hand, the normal diagnostics and treatment together with daily procalcitonin measurements and prompt clinical reaction should be equal.
Study & Design
- Study Type
- INTERVENTIONAL
- Study Design
- PARALLEL
- Arm && Interventions
Group Intervention Description PCT guided Earlier therapeutic changes regarding infection Procalcitonin guided treatment of infections in the ICU. Intervention: Intensification of antibiotics, surgery, microbiologic testing and diagnostic imaging, when Procalcitonin levels are increasing Control Earlier therapeutic changes regarding infection These patients receive "Standard of Care" which is the recommended treatment in the given ICU
- Primary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method mortality/survival 28 day
- Secondary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method mortality/survival 180 day Consumption of antimicrobial chemotherapy 28 day Prevalence of complications to infection: sepsis 28 day severe sepsis 28 day septic shock 28 day Multi Organ Dysfunction Syndrome 28 day Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation 28 day use of diagnostic imaging during admission to the ICU 28 day Quality of life post-ICU 180 day
Trial Locations
- Locations (9)
Intensive Care Unit 542, Hvidovre Hospital, Copenhagen University Hospital
🇩🇰Hvidovre, Copenhagen, Denmark
Roskilde Sygehus
🇩🇰Roskilde, Sjælland, Denmark
Skejby Sygehus
🇩🇰Skejby, Århus, Midtjylland, Denmark
Intensive Care Unit, Bispebjerg Hospital
🇩🇰Copenhagen NV, Copenhagen, Denmark
Intensive Care Unit, KAS Glostrup, Copenhagen University Hospital
🇩🇰Glostrup, Copenhagen, Denmark
Intensive Care Unit, KAS Gentofte
🇩🇰Gentofte, Copenhagen, Denmark
Intensive Care Unit, Hilleroed Sygehus
🇩🇰Hilleroed, Frederiksborg County, Denmark
Intensive Care Unit, Århus Sygehus, Nørrebrogade
🇩🇰Århus, Midtjylland, Denmark
Intensive Care Unit, Herlev Hospital
🇩🇰Herlev, Copenhagen, Denmark