A Trial of Procalcitonin in Patients With Acute Exacerbation of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
Status:
Not yet recruiting
Trial end date:
2022-04-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Current antibiotic prescription for patients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease (AECOPD) is generally based on the Anthonisen criteria in The Global
Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (GOLD) guideline, that has a potential
risk of antibiotics overuse. The dilemma is to identify patients who are most likely to
benefit from antibiotics while avoiding unnecessary antibiotic use. Procalcitonin (PCT), a
more sensitive and specific biomarker of bacterial infection than other conventional
laboratory tests, has the potential to determine those patients in whom antibiotics would be
beneficial. It is unclear whether PCT-guided antibiotic therapy is safe and effective for
inpatients with AECOPD. The investigators aim to conduct a 2-arm, multicenter randomized
controlled trial in China to determine whether PCT-guided antibiotic therapy will reduce the
antibiotic prescription rate for AECOPD without negatively impacting the treatment success
rate, compared with the GOLD guideline antibiotic recommendations.