Significance of serum procalcitonin and thyroid hormone in critically ill patients

Objective To study the significance of serum procalcitonin(PCT) and thyroid hormone(TH) in critically ill patients.Methods Fifty normal subjects as control group and 80 patients in intensive care unit(ICU) were examined for PCT,T3,T4,and TSH levels at the time of admission to and leaving the medical ward,and blood bacterial cultures of all patients,were peiformed while in some patients microbe cultures of sputum,urine,secretions of surgical wounds,or feces were carried out and analyzed by immunoturbidimetric assay and chemiluminescence immunoassay.Results Serum PCT level in critically ill patients was significantly higher than that in control group,that in bacterial culture positive group was much higher than that in negative group.and that in surviving group was higher than that in dead group(P0.01).Serum levels of T3 and T4 were significantly higher in critically ill patients than those in control group,those in bacterial culture positive group were lower than those in negative group,and those in surviving group were higher than those in dead group(P0.01/P0.05);but TSH index was not significantly different among all groups(P0.05).Conclusions Mornitoring the levels of serum PCT,T3 and T4 can offer objective indexes to the severity and prognosis in critically ill patients.