C-Reactive Protein
Also known as: CRP
The Test
How is it used?
CRP is useful in assessing patients with:
- Inflammatory bowel disease
- Some forms of arthritis
- Autoimmune diseases
- Pelvic inflammatory disease
- CRP is also used to monitor patients after surgery or other invasive procedures to detect the presence of an infection during the recovery period.
When is it requested?
Because CRP increases in severe cases of inflammation, the test is requested when acute inflammation is a risk (such as from an infection after surgery) or suspected based on patient symptoms. It is also requested to help evaluate chronic inflammatory conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus and is often repeated to determine whether treatment is effective. This is particularly useful for inflammatory conditions since CRP levels drop as inflammation subsides.
What does the test result mean?
A high or increasing amount of CRP in your blood suggests that you have an acute infection or inflammation - most infections and inflammations result in CRP levels above 10 mg/L.
If the CRP level in your blood drops, it means that you are getting better and inflammation is being reduced.
When your results fall below 10 mg/L, you no longer have clinically active inflammation.
If the CRP level in your blood drops, it means that you are getting better and inflammation is being reduced.
When your results fall below 10 mg/L, you no longer have clinically active inflammation.
Is there anything else I should know?
CRP levels can be elevated in the later stages of pregnancy, with use of birth control pills or in women taking hormone replacement therapy. Higher levels of CRP have also been observed in the obese.
Another test to monitor inflammation is called the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR). Both CRP and ESR are elevated in the presence of inflammation however, CRP appears and disappears sooner than changes in the ESR. CRP levels may therefore fall to normal if you have been treated successfully, such as for a flare-up of arthritis, but your ESR may remain abnormal for a while longer.
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