Comparison of a Serum PRO-CT Guided Treatment and the Recommended Antibiotic Treatment for COPD

"* continue antibiotics for 10 days if a single PRO-CT value is 0.25 mcg/L or greater, that will be judged suggestive of bacterial infection~* continue antibiotics from day 3 to day 10 if one or more PRO-CT values are 0.1 to 0.25 mcg/L, indicative of possible bacterial infection, PLUS acute respiratory failure or clinical instability~* stop antibiotics on day 3, if one or more PRO-CT values are between 0.1 to 0.25 mcg/L, indicative of possible bacterial infection, BUT the patient has not acute respiratory failure or clinical instability~* stop antibiotics if all the PRO-CT values are \< 0.1 mcg/L or if there is a consistent trend to normalization of PRO-CT with the last value \< 0.1 mcg/L, that will be judged suggestive of absence of bacterial infection."