Customized treatments for sepsis lower treatment time and reduce length of ICU stays

“Our study is the first randomized clinical trial in which a surrogate biochemical parameter was used to reduce the duration of antibiotic therapy in a population of critically ill patients admitted to the ICU for severe sepsis and septic shock,” wrote Dr. Pugin. “Despite the relatively short duration of treatment in bacteremic patients assigned to the PCT group, no case of recurrence of infection was observed in these patients.”

Following the PCT algorithm had another benefit: patients randomized to the PCT treatment had significantly shorter stays in the ICU than control patients—an average of three days versus five.

Customizing treatment does more than simply save hospitals money and patients precious days in the ICU, says Dr. Pugin. Overuse of antibiotics can result in antibiotic resistance. “Given the diversity of the types of infections, bacterial strains and levels of host immune defense, every infected patient should benefit from a personalized treatment, and particularly, a personalized treatment duration,” he said.

The investigators hope that customized treatments will continue to improve care for sepsis patients around the world. “We have now implemented this new algorithm based on procalcitonin guidance in our ICU for patients presenting with severe sepsis and septic shock, and are following the outcome of those patients,” said Dr. Pugin. “Currently, three large multi-center trials are ongoing in France, Denmark and Germany, with a design similar to that of our study. Results from these studies will be important to determine whether such a protocol of procalcitonin guidance is definitely safe and can be generalized worldwide.”