However, PCT is induced in the plasmas of patients not only at the presence of bacterial infection, but also in stress conditions such as severe trauma and surgery. In these conditions, the increases are moderate. The mechanism of the nonspecific increase is complicated. Other conditions with elevated PCT concentrations include medullary thyroid carcinoma , cancer, anaphylactic shock, heat shock , cardiac arrest, Kawasaki Disease, and so on. These findings suggest that elevated PCT levels lack the speciality to detect sepsis in critically ill patients.