C-reactive Protein Blood Test
C-reactive protein or CRP is a blood protein that is produced by the liver in your body. When inflammation is detected in the body, the CRP level rises. In order to measure the general levels of inflammation found in the body, the CRP test is conducted. This helps determine those who are suffering from chronic diseases or infections due to the increase of the CRP levels. Although the CRP test cannot distinctively diagnose a specific disease, it can indicate or confirm the presence of an infection. This in turn can alert medical professionals for any necessary treatments.
The C-reactive protein blood test is administered in order for the medical professional to ensure a patient’s physical response especially after a surgical operation. The CRP test is also ordered when acute inflammation becomes a possible risk due to the symptoms that is being experienced by the patient or from an infection after a surgery.
The CRP test is also useful when it comes to evaluating patients with autoimmune disease; inflammatory bowel disease, pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) and some forms of arthritis. CRP is also applied to examine wound healing as well as to observe patients who have burns, organ transplants or surgical cuts (incisions) as a means to detect any possible infections that may occur.
If the C-reactive protein blood test indicates a positive result, this means that you may possibly have inflammation in your body. This can be caused by several medical conditions which may include cancer, connective tissue disease, inflammatory bowel syndrome, infection, heart attack, lupus, pneumococcal pneumonia, rheumatoid arthritis, rheumatic fever, tuberculosis and so on. The patient might need to undergo treatment after which he or she will need to have another CRP test get an update with regards to the success of the treatment.
At this time, there is no definite conclusion as to when the test should be ordered and who should take the CRP test; although it is presently being used to check a healthy individual’s risk for strokes, heart attacks, cardiovascular disease and coronary heart disease (CHD). In short, this can determine your risk for developing heart diseases.
To date, the C-reactive protein blood test is one of the four essential blood tests that you must include as a regular part of your check-up to ensure that you do not have high levels of CRP in your bloodstream as well as to prevent heart conditions (if any) from developing further. Apart from your usually check-up to the doctor, make sure to take in fish oil supplements which is known to promote a healthy heart.