Clinical Trials Logo

Clinical Trial Summary

The ProACT study is a 5 year, multicenter study that will test the effect of implementation of a novel procalcitonin guideline on antibiotic use and adverse outcomes in Emergency Department (ED) patients with Lower Respiratory Tract Infection (LRTI).


Clinical Trial Description

There is a need for improved decision-making for antibiotic prescription in acute suspected infection. Infections, particularly in the early stages, can have protean manifestations, often do not manifest with "classic" signs, and clinically overlap with non-infectious conditions. However, the imperative to quickly give antibiotics for bacterial infection has led to antibiotic overuse and resistance.

Strategies that combine novel diagnostics with therapeutics have improved decision-making in oncology, cardiology, and other fields. These strategies aim to identify those patients most likely to be helped or harmed by the therapeutic intervention and allow more individualized care. This approach takes diagnostics to the next level, by demanding a test not only measure well, but also that clinical care be improved by tying the test to a treatment strategy.

Procalcitonin, a novel biomarker of bacterial infection, may help physicians make more appropriate antibiotic decisions. Lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) is an ideal trial population. LRTI accounts for a large proportion of antibiotic prescription, and exemplifies the imprecise clinical phenotype of infection.However, key questions of generalizability and safety preclude widespread application. ;


Study Design


Related Conditions & MeSH terms


NCT number NCT02130986
Study type Interventional
Source University of Pittsburgh
Contact
Status Completed
Phase N/A
Start date November 3, 2014
Completion date July 21, 2017

See also
  Status Clinical Trial Phase
Completed NCT00353951 - An Observational Study of Cough / Lower Respiratory Tract Infection (LRTI) in Primary Care N/A