Investigation of the role of procalcitonin in early diagnosisof infective endocarditis

Introduction: Infective endocarditis (IE) is a life-threatening condition with incidence of 30-100 per million individuals. It is introduced as the 4th disease among life-threatening diseases. The present study was carried out with the aim to compare serum level of procalcitonin (PCT) at the time of diagnosis and at the end of treatment period among patients with IE. Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study which was performed in department of infectious diseases and cardiology on the patients with IE, PCT level was measured at the time of diagnosis and at the end of treatment period. Results: In this study, 50 patients with IE were evaluated. All of them were febrile. Positive blood culture (PBC) was found among 36% of patients. Involvement of tricuspid valve was detected among 34% of patients. Mean level of PCT was 3.50 ± 13.78 and 14.12 ± 0.00 mg/dl at the time of diagnosis and at the end of treatment period, respectively. Hence, the PCT level at the end of treatment period was significantly lower than that at the time of diagnosis. Conclusion: PCT along with other laboratory and clinical biomarkers can be useful in primary diagnosis and evaluation of response to treatment among patients with IE.