Misleading Serum Procalcitonin Elevation in Heatstroke

Tau, Marco Enzo and Cocca, Melissa (2017) Misleading Serum Procalcitonin Elevation in Heatstroke. European Journal of Case Reports in Internal Medicine, 4 (8). ISSN 2284-2594

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Abstract

A healthy 44-year-old man, with a typical presentation of exertional heatstroke, presented with an increase in serum procalcitonin (PCT) levels. Suspecting a coexisting infection, the emergency physician started empirical antibiotic treatment and obtained samples for culture. The antibiotic treatment was stopped immediately after ward admission due to lack of signs of infection. The patient recovered completely after several days of rehydrating therapy and cultures remained negative for bacterial growth. PCT elevation is typically found with heatstroke, but this association is rarely found in daily practice due to the futility of PCT testing in this situation. Increased serum PCT levels in the context of heatstroke must not lead to an unsupported alternative diagnosis and useless investigations, tests and treatment.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Heat stroke; procalcitonin; systemic inflammatory response syndrome
Subjects: 600 Tecnologia - Scienze applicate > 610 Medicina e salute (Classificare qui la tecnologia dei servizi medici) > 616 Malattie (classificare qui la Clinica medica, la medicina basata sull'evidenza, la Medicina interna, la Medicina sperimentale)
Depositing User: Chiara D'Arpa
Date Deposited: 26 Jan 2018 14:19
Last Modified: 26 Jan 2018 14:19
URI: http://eprints.bice.rm.cnr.it/id/eprint/17002

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