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Published in: Critical Care 4/2009

01-08-2009 | Commentary

When once is not enough – further evidence of procalcitonin-guided antibiotic stewardship

Authors: Stephan Harbarth, Werner C Albrich, Beat Müller

Published in: Critical Care | Issue 4/2009

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Abstract

Every day, critical care physicians around the world face the same challenge of the optimal timing of antimicrobial administration: when to start and when to stop antibiotics. Duration of antibiotic therapy for sepsis is mostly based on expert opinion, but its reduction is arguably the most promising approach to decrease emergence and selection of antibiotic resistance. The study by Hochreiter and colleagues presents another piece of evidence suggesting that procalcitonin may indeed be a valuable diagnostic parameter to guide antibiotic treatment duration, despite the ongoing controversy about the diagnostic accuracy of pro-calcitonin.
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Metadata
Title
When once is not enough – further evidence of procalcitonin-guided antibiotic stewardship
Authors
Stephan Harbarth
Werner C Albrich
Beat Müller
Publication date
01-08-2009
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
Critical Care / Issue 4/2009
Electronic ISSN: 1364-8535
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/cc7935

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