Report by: Anna O’Malley

Search checked by: Helene Svinos, Medical Student

Institution: University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

A short-cut review was carried out to establish whether a normal C-reactive protein (CRP) is sufficiently sensitive to rule out septic arthritis. A total of 251 papers was found using the reported search, of which three represented 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. The clinical bottom line is that although CRP shows …