BEST EVIDENCE TOPIC REPORTS
BET 2. C-REACTIVE PROTEIN IN THE DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS OF HEART FAILURE AND CHEST INFECTION
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
Report by Amy Au-Yong
Checked by Tim Coats, Professor of Emergency Medicine
Institution: Emergency Department, Leicester Royal Infirmary, Leicester, UK
A short-cut review was carried out to establish whether C-reactive protein (CRP) has any utility in the differential diagnosis of heart failure and pneumonia. A total of 601 papers was found using the reported searches, of which three presented the best evidence to answer the clinical question. The author, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results and study weaknesses of these best papers are tabulated. It is concluded that there is no evidence for the use of CRP to discriminate between a diagnosis of pneumonia and heart failure in patients who have acute shortness of breath.
A 70-year-old man presents to the emergency department with acute shortness of breath. You wonder whether sending a sample of his blood for CRP levels will help
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Pneumonia (infectious disease)
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TB and other respiratory infections
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Pneumonia (respiratory medicine)
- Acute coronary syndromes
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