Reply To: CRP…is it useful?

Hi Scott,

This is interesting reading the human uses of CRP, especially in relation to antibiotic usage. I think CRP is a very non-specific test, however rightly or wrongly, I find them most useful in cases that I am suspicious of an immune mediated process (IMPA, SRMA, MMM) as I have found that in these cases the CRP can be >100, so although I can’t diagnose anything based on this I feel that it adds evidence to the clinical picture. If I’m suspicious of IMPA/MMM etc and the CRP is normal or slightly elevated then I think it’s much less likely to have an immune mediated process and therefore I should consider other ddx’s.

The other place that I have used them is for monitoring immune mediated diseases in the follow-up for response to treatment, however I think it is questionable whether this test is needed in these situations, as clinical examination and clinical signs may be sufficient to give the information we are looking for.