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The University of Chicago Medicine Laboratories

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Specimen Collection and Handling

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Mayo Clinic Laboratories

Test Code CRP C-Reactive Protein

Specimen and Container/Tube

Specimen Type: Plasma

Preferred Specimen: Li-Heparin Mint Green Top

Other Acceptable specimens: Serum/Gold Top, Serum/Red Top

Volume

Preferred Volume: 0.5 mL

Minimum Volume: 0.2 mL

Specimen Stability

Storage Temperature

Stability 

Room temperature

2 weeks

Refrigerated

3 weeks

Frozen

12 months

Collection Instructions

Collect specimen per standard laboratory collection procedures. 

 

Specimen Handling and Transport Instructions

UCMC Onsite Instructions: 

Collect specimen per standard collection procedure and send to laboratory immediately. 

 

UCMC Offsite and UC MedLab Outreach Instructions: 

  • Samples should be centrifuged within 2 hours of collection.
  • Centrifuge specimens at >2500 x g for 10 minutes at room temperature.
  • Aliquot sample into plastic transport tube containing a minimum of 0.2 mL of specimen.
  • Sample must be sent room temperature at 15-25oC

Rejection Criteria

  • Common specimen rejected situations include: incorrect specimen type, insufficient volume, missing or incomplete specimen identifiers, incorrect specimen transport, or specimens outside stability limits. 
  • Specimens that are clotted or grossly hemolyzed.
  • Specimens that where transported unspun/whole blood and draw time is greater than 6 ours.

Reference Values

 

Test

Age

Sex

Reference Range

CRP

All

All

<5 mg/L

Note: Reference range based on in-house studies, on the recommendations from  Tietz Textbook of Clinical Chemistry and Roche Diagnostics product literature.

Critical Values

Not applicable 

Turnaround Time

Turnaround times are relative to the time the specimen is received in the test laboratory. 

 

STAT Turnaround Time: 1 hour

Routine Turnaround Time: 4 hours

Testing Schedule: 24/7

Clinical Indications

CRP assays are used to detect systemic inflammatory processes; to assess treatment of bacterial infections with antibiotics; to detect intrauterine infections with concomitant premature amniorrhexis; to differentiate between active and inactive forms of disease with concurrent infection; to determine the presence of post-operative complications at an early stage, such as infected wounds.

Test Components

C-Reactive Protein
 

Methodology

Particle Enhanced Immunoturbidimetric Assay (Roche Diagnostics)

CPT Codes

86140

LOINC Codes

1988-5

Synonyms/Keyword Search

Protein, C-Reactive, CRP, C Reactive, CRPQ

Additional Information

  • Results should always be assessed in conjunction with patient's medical history, clinical examination and other findings.
  • High dose hook-effect: No false result occurs up to a CRP concentration of 1200 mg/L.
  • Ticarcillin causes no significant interference up to 225 mg/L.
  • CRP response may be less pronounced in patients suffereing from liver disease.
  • Postoperative monitoring of CRP level of patients can aid in the recognition of unexpected complications (persisting high or increasing levels. Measuring changes in the concentration of CRP provides useful diagnostic information about how acute and how serious a disease is. It also allows judgements about the disase genesis. Persistence of high serum CRP concentrations is usually a grave prognostic sign which generally indicates the presence of an uncontrolled infection.

Last Review Date

5/6/2025