title: The acute phase response and laboratory testing.
abstract: Medical practitioners use laboratory testing to define disease states more precisely than is possible by clinical assessment alone. With this expectation it is easy to overemphasise the significance of numerical test results. There are many pitfalls in the interpretation of tests used to assess the body's general response to injury. This article reviews the nature of the response and highlights both the use of the available laboratory tests and some of the difficulties commonly encountered.
authors.affiliation: Royal Hobart Hospital.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jupe
mesh_terms: D000209:Acute-Phase Proteins / Q000032:analysis; D000210:Acute-Phase Reaction / Q000209:etiology*; D001799:Blood Sedimentation; D001809:Blood Viscosity / Q000502:physiology; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000032:analysis; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D003955:Diagnostic Tests, Routine; D006801:Humans; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D000209:Acute-Phase Proteins; D015850:Interleukin-6; D002097:C-Reactive Protein