title: C-reactive protein and erythrocyte sedimentation rate in differential diagnosis between infections and neoplastic fever in patients with solid tumours and lymphomas.
abstract: The goals of our work were to study prospectively the possibility of differentiating between infections and neoplastic fever in adult cancer patients on admission, by means of C-reactive protein (CRP) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) or of follow-up CRP values. Patients and methods were as follows: the final infection group consisted of 56 patients and the noninfection group of 10 patients with neoplastic fever; CRP was measured on days 0, 3 and 5 and ESR at entry. The main results showed that the median CRP did not differ between the groups (91 mg/l vs 102 mg/l) on entry, while the ESR level was higher in the neoplastic fever group (50 mm/H vs 89 mm/H, P = 0.023). On admission, both markers had low area under receiver operating characteristic curves for the demonstration of infection (CRP 0.42; ESR 0.27). The CRP level dropped significantly in the infection group within 5 days (P = 0.009). We conclude that neither of the markers was useful in differentiating between infections and neoplastic fever on admission, but that the follow-up CRP values were advantageous in this respect.
authors: Department of Oncology and Radiotherapy, Oulu University Hospital, 90220 Oulu, Finland. raija.kallio@oulu.fi
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Kallio
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Bloigu
authors: H M
authors: HM
authors: Surcel
authors: H
authors: H
authors: Syrjälä
mesh_terms: D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000150:complications*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis; D001799:Blood Sedimentation; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000032:analysis*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D005334:Fever / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000150:complications*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D002097:C-Reactive Protein