Please select the eligibility criteria that correspond to the clinical trial below.
Title: Procalcitonin-guided Algorithms of Antibiotic Stewardship in the Intensive Care Unit: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
Brief Summary: Sepsis is common and is associated with significant mortality, morbidity and health-care costs. Unfortunately, its diagnosis is not straightforward because its signs and symptoms are neither specific nor sensitive; in addition, microbiological cultures lack specificity, sensitivity and are plagued by high turn-around times. Because the delay in the institution of antimicrobial therapy may be deleterious, broad-spectrum antibiotics are widely used in ICU-patients, even when they are not needed. Procalcitonin may not be the long sought for bio-marker to establish the diagnosis of sepsis but may help decrease the duration of the administered antibiotic courses once they are started.


Options:
A: Inclusion Criteria:

* Patients must have new or worsening radiographic infiltrates consistent with ventilator-associated pneumonia that was not related to cardiac or other disease processes
* Have at least 1 of the following: fever (core body temperature greater than 39.0°C); hypothermia (core body temperature of less than 35.0°C); leukocytosis (increased WBC count); and leukopenia (decreased WBC count)
* Have developed ventilator-associated pneumonia and have been on mechanical ventilation for more than or equal to 48 hours and on mechanical ventilation at the time that study medication is assigned
* Have been hospitalized or been in a chronic care facility for consecutive 5 days or more within the last 90 days
* Have a baseline Clinical Pulmonary Infection Score (CPIS) more than or equal to 6 and an Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II score more than 8 and less than 35

Exclusion Criteria:

* Have received antibiotics for this episode of ventilator-associated pneumonia for more than 24 hours before study medication administration
* Known presence at baseline of only methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or Stenotrophomonas infection
* Acute respiratory distress syndrome
* Has any of the following conditions: chest trauma with severe lung bruising or loss of stability of the thoracic cage following a fracture of the sternum, ribs, or both, increased amounts of fluid in the lung cavities requiring drainage or pus in the cavity
* Has active seizure disorder within the last 2 years or brain injury such that imipenem cilastatin would not be administered to the patient in usual practice
* Has lung cancer within the last 2 years, chronic bronchitis with an increase in severity within the last 30 days, chronic enlargement of the bronchi or bronchioles related to inflammatory disease or obstruction, lung abscess(s), anatomical bronchial obstruction, respiratory tuberculosis on treatment, suspected atypical pneumonia, chemical pneumonitis, cystic fibrosis, congestive heart failure, severe burns to greater than 15% of the body, evidence of severe and chronic liver disease
B: Inclusion Criteria:

* Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that report on the outcomes of critically ill patients managed with a procalcitonin-guided algorithm versus routine practice.
* Participants of any age with proven or suspected sepsis will be considered. - As routine practice, the investigators will consider the institution and discontinuation of antibiotics by the attending physicians with the aid of clinical signs, symptoms, microbiological data, well established laboratory parameters (i.e., white blood cell count) and widely accepted guidelines but without the knowledge of PCT values. The investigators will set no limitations regarding the time, country or language of publications. The investigators will search for trials conducted in critically ill neonates and children.

Exclusion Criteria:

* The investigators will exclude studies that are not RCTs and studies performed outside the ICU, namely in the primary care setting, the emergency department or the clinic.
C: Inclusion Criteria:

1. Patients with clinically suspected or microbiologically confirmed bacterial sepsis
2. Informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Patients with microbiologically documented infections caused by the following microorganisms: Listeria spp, Legionella pneumophilia, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Staphylococcus aureus
2. Patients with fungal infections
3. Patients with severe infections due to viruses or parasites (e.g. hemorrhagic fever, malaria)
4. Patients with suspected or confirmed bacterial meningitis or endocarditis
5. Patients with localized, deep-seated abscesses (e.g. brain abscess) without systemic sepsis
6. Patients with chronic, localized infections (e.g. chronic osteomyelitis) without systemic sepsis
7. Neutropenic and other severely immuno-compromised patients (patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus and a CD4 count \< 200; patients on immuno-suppressive therapy after solid organ transplantation; patients with cystic fibrosis)
8. Withholding of life-support
9. Early discharge or death (\< 24 hours after admission)
10. Complete absence of antimicrobial treatment despite suspicion of sepsis
D: Inclusion Criteria:

Fulfilment of all of the following three criteria:

1. Male or female, aged \> 18 years of age.
2. Admitted to the participating Intensive Care Units (ICUs) at the following hospitals: Hvidovre Hospital, Bispebjerg Hospital, Amager Hospital, Herlev Hospital, Glostrup Hospital, and Gentofte Hospital
3. Ability to understand and provide written informed consent to participate in this trial; or ability to understand and provide oral informed consent in the presence of at least one impartial witness who should sign and personally date the consent form; or the subject's legally acceptable representative can understand and provide written informed consent if the subject is not capable of this because of the present mental or physical condition of the subject.

Exclusion Criteria:

A subject will NOT be eligible for inclusion in this trial if any of the following criteria apply:

1. Subjects with known hyperbilirubinaemia (\> 0.4 mg/ml) or hypertriglyceridaemia (\> 10 g/l) since this can interfere with measurements. If subjects with unknown status on these points are included and have PCT measurements, the measuring equipment will detect these conditions.
2. Subjects suffering from a blood disorder, where daily sampling of 7 ml of blood for a maximum of 28 days (210 ml distributed on 28 days) will be an inconvenience or a potential risk, which could compromise the safety of the subject.
3. Subjects who are pregnant or breast feeding

The a priori probability of surviving with the normal recommended diagnostics and treatment with the presently available means to detect infections and, on the other hand, the normal diagnostics and treatment together with daily procalcitonin measurements and prompt clinical reaction should be equal.

Answer: B