Procalcitonin is a good tool to guide duration of antibiotic therapy in patients with severe acute pancreatitis. A randomized prospective single-center controlled trial.

Objective: To investigate the clinical usefulness of procalcitonin (PCT) for guiding duration of antibiotic therapy in patients with severe acute pancreatitis (SAP).

Methods: A total of 71 patients with confirmed severe acute pancreatitis from March 2009 to September 2011 in the Department of Critical Care Medicine of Huizhou Municipal Central Hospital, Guangdong, China were enrolled in this study. Procalcitonin was measured daily by a semi-quantitative immunoassay in the study group.

[Differences in serum and ascites cytokine production caused by Gram-positive or -negative bacterial infection in patients with multiple organ dysfunction syndrome].

Objective: To observe the differences in the cytokine levels in the serum and ascites caused by Gram-positive or Gram-negative bacterial infection in patients with multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS).

Methods: The cytokines in the serum and ascites of the patients were examined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in 27 patients with MODS due to Gram-positive (n=13) or Gram-negative (n=14) bacterial infection at day 1.

Results: The levels of LPS and TNF-a were higher in the patients with Gram-negative bacterial infection than in patients with Gram-positive infection (P<0.