Utilidad de la procalcitonina como biomarcador en cirugía cardiaca

Procalcitonin is a valuable biomarker for the diagnosis and prognosis of infection and for antibiotic treatment monitoring in multiple clinical situations. Postoperative infection is a severe complication after cardiac surgery that increases morbimortality, which can be effectively reduced with early detection and appropriate treatment. Surgical trauma and cardiopulmonary bypass induced inflammation, as well as hypothermia or vasoconstrictors, stimulate the release of procalcitonin in uncomplicated postoperative patients, so its usefulness may be reduced. This review presents the state of the art regarding the predictive value of procalcitonin as a clinical biomarker for the diagnosis and prognosis of infection in various clinical contexts and the current evidence of the usefulness of this biomarker in the diagnosis and prognosis of infectious and non-infectious complications in the cardiac postoperative period.