C-reactive protein is an acute temporal (phase) protein, also known as C-reactive protein (CRP).
The normal reference value is ≤10mg/L
In early rheumatoid and acute rheumatism, it can be up to 50mg/L in the serum, and its positivity rate is 80% to 90%.
The clinical significance of CRP is the same as that of blood sedimentation, but it is not affected by factors such as erythrocytes, HB, lipids and age, and it is a good indicator of inflammatory infections and efficacy of treatment. It is a good indicator of inflammation and infection and the efficacy of treatment. CRP increases significantly during the active period of rheumatoid disease and is parallel to the increase in blood sedimentation rate, but it appears earlier than the increase in blood sedimentation rate and disappears faster.The more CRP content, the higher the activity of the lesion is. In the process of inflammation recovery, if CRP is positive, it indicates that there is still a possibility of sudden appearance of clinical symptoms; if CRP which has turned negative after stopping hormone is positive again, it indicates that the lesion activity is continuing. Inflammation remission and after the use of antirheumatic drugs, turn negative or disappear faster than the blood sedimentation, and in anemia and heart failure is not as susceptible to blood sedimentation.
CRP is also parallel to r-globulin and RF, and when CRP and the latter two are negative and ASO is elevated, it indicates good immune function; when all three are positive and high, and ASO is low, it indicates low immune function.
CRP positivity can also be seen in pneumonia, nephritis, malignant tumors and acute infections, trauma and tissue necrosis, myocardial infarction, cardiac insufficiency, multiple myeloma, leukemia, cholelithiasis, hepatitis, dysentery, rheumatic fever, PM, PSS, polyarteritis nodosa, SLE, tuberculosis, and mycobacterial vaccination. However, it is usually negative or weakly positive in viral infections, so it can be used as a differential indicator between bacterial and viral infections.