What Does CRP in Blood Mean?
Blood CRP mainly refers to two blood test items: blood routine test and CRP, which form a combination. The blood routine test can judge whether a person has acute infection, cellular reaction, anemia, and platelet dysfunction based on the morphology and quantity of cells in the blood. CRP, also known as C-reactive protein, mainly reflects the degree of inflammatory response in humans. Therefore, through the combination of blood routine test and CRP, doctors can more directly and effectively analyze the presence of acute infection, especially the value of distinguishing bacterial infection from viral infection, and at the same time reflect the severity of infection, so as to quickly formulate more targeted and effective treatment plans and anti-infective measures.
I. Clinical Significance of Blood CRP:
(1) After the onset of various acute inflammations, tissue injuries, myocardial infarctions, surgical traumas, and radiation injuries, CRP rapidly increases within hours and multiplies. When the condition improves, it rapidly returns to normal, and the degree of increase is positively correlated with the severity of infection. In patients after surgery, CRP levels should decrease within 7 to 10 days postoperatively. If CRP does not decrease or increases again, it suggests possible concurrent infection or thromboembolism.
(2) CRP has a close correlation with other inflammatory factors such as total white blood cell count, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and polymorphonuclear leukocytes. It also has a positive correlation with WBC. CRP plays an active role in inflammatory responses, enabling the body to have nonspecific resistance. CRP can rise earlier than WBC during the onset of patient's illness and recovers quickly, thus having high sensitivity.
(3) CRP can help distinguish the type of respiratory infection. CRP can be used for differential diagnosis of bacterial and viral infections: when bacterial infection occurs, CRP levels increase; while during viral infection, CRP does not increase or only increases slightly. Therefore, CRP values can assist doctors in identifying the type of respiratory infection and providing targeted medication and treatment.
(4) CRP levels are elevated in patients with malignant tumors. Combined detection of CRP and AFP can be used for differential diagnosis of liver cancer and benign liver diseases, as well as for assessing the efficacy and prognosis of liver cancer. CRP levels increase before surgery and decrease after surgery, and its response is not affected by radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and corticosteroid treatment, which is helpful for assessing tumor progression.
(5) CRP can be used to assess the severity of acute pancreatitis. When CRP is higher than 250mg/L, it suggests extensive necrotic pancreatitis.
(6) Measurement of CRP using ultra-sensitive latex-enhanced method can improve the sensitivity of measurement and can be used for predicting the risk of coronary heart disease and myocardial infarction.
