C‐reactive protein in the diagnosis of deep vein thrombosis

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Abstract
Summary. The role of C‐reactive protein (CRP) in the diagnosis of suspected deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and a possible advantage of its additional evaluation with D‐dimer has not been clearly evaluated. We therefore studied plasma CRP and D‐dimer levels in 233 consecutive patients with suspected DVT; the final diagnosis was based on the results of colour duplex ultrasound or venography. DVT was diagnosed in 31·3%. CRP and D‐dimer correlated significantly (r = 0·64, P < 0·01); both were increased significantly in patients suffering from DVT (P < 0·001). Multivariate analysis revealed a significant influence of the presence of DVT (P < 0·001), the presence of malignancy (P < 0·001) and the presence of inflammatory diseases (P = 0·009) on plasma CRP, while there was no significant influence of the duration of symptoms (P = 0·30). The sensitivity (75%vs 93%) to specificity (69%vs 55%) relationship showed inferior results for CRP compared with D‐dimer; its additional evaluation did not improve the diagnostic value of D‐dimer. We conclude that CRP can provide additional information neither for the diagnostic process in patients with suspected DVT nor for the differential diagnosis of DVT and inflammatory diseases.

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