The prognostic value of procalcitonin (PCT) levels to predict mortality and other adverse events in community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) remains undefined.We assessed the performance of PCT overall, stratified into four predefined procalcitonin tiers (,0.1, 0.1-0.25, .0.25-0.5, .0.5 mg?L -1 ) and stratified by Pneumonia Severity Index (PSI) and CURB-65 (confusion, urea .7 mmol?L -1 , respiratory frequency o30 breaths?min -1 , systolic blood pressure ,90 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure f60 mmHg, and age o65 yrs) risk classes to predict all-cause mortality and adverse events within 30 days follow-up in 925 CAP patients. In receiver operating characteristic curves, initial PCT levels performed only moderately for mortality prediction (area under the curve (AUC) 0.60) and did not improve clinical risk scores. Follow-up measurements on days 3, 5 and 7 showed better prognostic performance (AUCs 0.61, 0.68 and 0.73). For prediction of adverse events, the AUC was 0.66 and PCT significantly improved the PSI (from 0.67 to 0.71) and the CURB-65 (from 0.64 to 0.70). In Kaplan-Meier curves, PCT tiers significantly separated patients within PSI and CURB-65 risk classes for adverse events prediction, but not for mortality. Reclassification analysis confirmed the added value of PCT for adverse event prediction, but not mortality.Initial PCT levels provide only moderate prognostic information concerning mortality risk and did not improve clinical risk scores. However, PCT was helpful during follow-up and for prediction of adverse events and, thereby, improved the PSI and CURB65 scores.

Forty-six postmenopausal women with either locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer were treated with the aromatase inhibitor CGS 16949A in three different daily doses (0.3 mg, 0.6 mg and 0.9 mg total daily dose). 41 patients (89%) were pretreated by endocrine treatment for metastatic disease; 30 of these 41 were also pretreated with chemotherapy. Of the remaining 5 patients (11%) 3 were previously treated with chemotherapy alone and 2 were not pretreated. Evaluable sites of disease were: skin and soft tissue (including local recurrence) in 34, bone in 31, lung in 14 and viscera in 13 instances, respectively. 1 PR (3%) and 9 stable diseases (24%) were observed in the 37 patients assessable for response. All but two of these results were observed in the 0.9 mg group. Time to progression was 14 months for the patient showing a PR, and the median time to progression for those with stable disease was 6 months (range 6 to 23 months). Plasma estradiol and estrone levels were measured in patients receiving the daily dose of 0.6 mg (n = 4) and 0.9 mg (n = 15). The estrone levels decreased from a mean of 23.1 pg/mL (SD 17.1) to 10.5 pg/mL (SD 6.6) in the 0.6 mg-group and from 21.2 pg/mL (SD 18.9) to 9.1 pg/mL (SD 5.5) in the 0.9 mg-group within 4 days of drug administration (p less than 0.0001 from baseline in both groups, with no significant difference between doses).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)