C-reactive protein (CRP), a comparison of pre- and post-mortem blood levels.

During autopsy of 26 inpatients with elevated CRP levels (14-536 mg/l) blood was taken from the femoral vessels and analysed for the content of CRP. The post-mortem CRP values were compared with the results of CRP analysis performed within the last 24h before death. This showed that the post-mortem values of CRP in average were reduced with 35% compared to the ante-mortem values. The decrease in CRP levels was not significantly influenced by the time interval from death until blood was drawn for analysis, at least up to 6 days. When blood taken from healthy individuals killed in accidents was analysed, no elevated CRP values were observed, indicating that there is negligible risk for false positive results. It is also shown that frozen blood can be used for CRP analysis if an immunometric kit assay based on whole blood is applied. The results demonstrate that an elevated level of CRP in post-mortem blood is a good marker for an ongoing inflammatory process prior to death. CRP analysis may therefore be a helpful tool in post-mortem examinations, especially in non-hospitalised individuals without medical records.