Biomarkers in intensive care: C-reactive protein and procalcitonin

Abstract

With the current advances in medicine, we all can experience a paradigm shift of medicine from art to science. Everyone wish their practice to be more accurate and objective rather than being experience based and subjective. We have seen massive developments towards the goal of practicing medicine with precision and uniformity. One such advancement is seen in the form of ‘biomarkers’. A biomarker is a characteristic that is objectively measured and evaluated as an indicator of normal biological processor, pathogenic processor or pharmacological responses to a therapeutic intervention. Everyday new biomarkers are being found and the pace has been accelerated with rapid progress in the fields of biochemistry, microgenetics and laboratory tool manufacturing. C-reactive protein and procalcitonin are two important biomarkers, described in this nar-rative review, which are in extensive use in intensive care setting.

Received: 31 Oct 2018
Reviewed & Corrected: 4 Nov 2018,
Accepted: 10 Nov 2018

Citation: Agrawal J, Sharma CK. Biomarkers in intensive care: C-reactive protein and procalcitonin. Anaesth Pain & Intensive Care 2018;22 Suppl 1:S118-S123