Procalcitonin Guided Versus Conventional Antibiotic Therapy in Patients With Sepsis in the ICU

Inclusion Criteria: * Patients admitted to the ICU * Age \> 18 years * Antibiotic therapy for sepsis with a suspected or proven focus of infection Exclusion Criteria: * Age \< 18 years * Pregnancy * Infection or presumed infection requiring prolonged antibiotic therapy (osteomyelitis, meningitis, endocarditis, septic arthritis, mediastinitis, tuberculosis, Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia, Toxoplasmosis, Legionellosis, Listeriosis) * Indication for prolonged systemic prophylactic antibiotic therapy * Severe viral or parasitic infections (hemorrhagic fever, malaria) * Antibiotic therapy started 48 hours before enrollment * Severe immunocompromised patients (AIDS with a CD4 count \< 200cells/mm3, severe neutropenia(\<500 neutrophils/mm3), patients undergoing immunosuppressive therapy after solid organ transplantation) * Patients foregoing life sustaining treatment