Procalcitonin testing for diagnosing and monitoring sepsis (ADVIA Centaur BRAHMS PCT assay, BRAHMS PCT Sensitive Kryptor assay, Elecsys BRAHMS PCT assay, LIAISON BRAHMS PCT assay and VIDAS BRAHMS PCT assay)

The procalcitonin tests (ADVIA Centaur BRAHMS PCT assay, BRAHMS PCT Sensitive Kryptor assay, Elecsys BRAHMS PCT assay, LIAISON BRAHMS PCT assay and VIDAS BRAHMS PCT assay) show promise but there is currently insufficient evidence to recommend their routine adoption in the NHS. Further research on procalcitonin tests is recommended for guiding decisions to:

• stop antibiotic treatment in people with confirmed or highly suspected sepsis in the intensive care unit or

• start and stop antibiotic treatment in people with suspected bacterial infection presenting to the emergency department.
  
  Centres currently using procalcitonin tests to guide these decisions are encouraged to participate in research and data collection (see section 6.25).