Role of C-re reacting protein (CPR) in atherosclerosis

The article is consulted professionally by Master, Dr. Do Xuan Chien – Head of Medical Examination and Internal Medicine department and Professional Advisor, Associate Professor, Dr. Hoang Dang Mech – General Internal Medicine Specialist – Medical examination and Internal Medicine Department – Share99 Ha Long International Health Hub.

Screening and treatment for the prevention of the causes of cardiovascular events is extremely necessary, especially on high-risk subjects. Along with common tests and tools, the C-re reacting protein (CRP) is increasingly playing its role in the prevention of atherosclerosis.

Atherosclerosis is a condition where the walls of the vessels are sclerosis accompanied by narrowing of the vessels due to atherosclerosis plaques that limit the flow of blood, causing anemia to feed to the body. The essence of atherosclerosis plaque is that lipid molecules circulating in the blood in high concentrations, penetrate into the vessel wall. They act as foreign objects, provoke local inflammatory reactions, attract tingle, white blood cells, fibrin fibers to isolation, siege and long-term calcification progress. Since the arteries are always under higher blood pressure than other blood vessels, the vessels are more vulnerable; "atherosclerosis" is also commonly known as "atherosclerosis".

When blood vessels are narrowed in any agency, is presenting is is an is anethemia at that agency. For arterial damage in the heart, it is called coronary atherosclerosis, which causes myocardial infarction or iso localized heart disease, which in the long term will cause heart failure. At this time, the patient will feel tired, short of breath during exertion, long-term progress to constant shortness of breath, shortness of breath when lying on the head low, edema of the legs, little urination. When coronary atherosclerosis arrives at this stage, the disease has worsened, deteriorating quality of life.

Likewise, if atherosclerosis in the brain will be a favorable condition that leads to cerebral infarction, the person suddenly weakens the human half, distortion of the mouth, difficulty speaking, urinary inaction. If the atherosclerosis of the lower limbs, the patient has pain when walking, catches a mild pubic vein or loses pulse, recurrent leg, numbness, gradually loses function.

C-Reactive Protein (CRP) is a protein produced by the liver in the event of an infection or by conditions that cause an inflammatory reaction in the body such as rheumatoid arthritis, general autoimosis. When the body is infected, due to the presence of antigens, those white blood cells that play an immune role will immediately encircle and destroy by producing some C-re reacting proteins. The intermediate chemical substances will activate a reaction waterfall, mobilize a large number of leukocytes from elsewhere to participate, releasing additional yeasts that destroy the bacterial cell wall. At the same time, some of those C-re reacting proteins will stimulate the liver to produce CRP. Therefore, CRP levels in the blood have long been used to determine and assess the level of inflammation or infection.

Since the advanced stages of atherosclerosis are also essentially a chain of inflammatory reactions, the level of CRP in the blood has been studied and concluded as an index of the degree of risk of suffering cardiovascular problems, in which atherosclerosis serves as the core cause. In fact, CRP levels are higher in patients with atherosclerosis than in those without atherosclerosis.

Not only that, the value of CRP levels also helps to identify a patient with atherosclerosis with a risk of cardiovascular events, especially when the subject is at medium risk, i.e. risk factors of atherosclerosis are unclear such as hypertension , dyslipidemia, diabetes mellitus, smoking and not yet any symptoms suggestive of atherosclerosis in the muscles. In other words, it is the value of CRP that will now help guide primary preventive treatment by integrating lifestyle changes or taking drugs proactively in the first place.

The C-re reacting protein measurement test is performed as a simple, simple, fast and low-cost response time. CRP dosing results will be categorised into three levels that are low, medium and high: Less than 1mg/dL is low; 1-3mg/dL is average and from above 3mg/dL or higher is high.

C-re reacting protein levels tend to increase with age but will generally remain stable for a few months or a few years. Accordingly, this is not a test that needs regular repeated testing to monitor the progress of the dynamic. And above all, to avoid confusing the presence of atherosclerosis with other interference factors, the person is not in order to conduct this test while there are any other types of infection or inflammation, such as colds or flu. The reason is that because the concentration of C-re reacting proteins reflects inflammation in the body in a nons specific way, the results in the blood will be very high in these situations.

In addition, crp levels also have increased sensitivity along with the presence of other risk factors such as diabetes mellitus,kidney failure, smoking and obesity. Thus, if a person smokes or is overweight and has high CRP levels, CRP can only reflect a link to these risk factors rather than influencing the risk of cardiovascular disease in particular.

In addition, when the patient suffers from acute vascular events such as heart failure,myocardial infarction, stroke, peripheral artery disease, without infection, any other inflammatory reactions, the concentration of CRP measured at this time will also increase.

However, when compared to other routine tests in patients with atherosclerosis, increased levels of CRP in the blood have shown to be three times more likely to be associated with a heart attack than a regular blood lipid bilan test. What's more, in a study of women's health, the indicators in CRP test results showed that achieving greater accuracy than other inflammatory factor tests in healthy women who were already men with menopause. Three years later, people with high CRP levels are at risk of dying from coronary arterydisease , including myocardial infarction, stroke, which is four times higher than those with low CRP levels.

Having ruled out other potential interference, a high-result CRP blood test is not an independent factor for deciding on treatment. However, although no accompanying pathology is present, the risk factor for atherosclerosis is not present or very low, if the level of C-re reacting protein is medium or high, the implementation of lifestyle changes has also proven to help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease caused by real atherosclerosis later on. That is:

• Building a balanced, scientific diet
• Limit fat and fat absorption
• Keep your body weight reasonable
• Exercise regularly
• Good control of blood sugar index and high blood pressure
• Quit smoking habits
• Moderate drinking

In the event that the patient has suffered from cardiovascular events caused by atherosclerosis or is at high to very high risk, the treatment of second and first-hand positive prevention with drugs is given a prolonged prescription. Medications including blood pressure stabilizers, blood glucose, blood fat reduction and anti-thrombolysis are followed daily. Accordingly, in addition to applying the above non-medicinal measures, you need to see a doctor periodically and be evaluated regularly, in order to achieve the goal of treatment in the best way, ensuring a long-term quality of life.

In short, the C-reflex protein (CRP) is a blood test that has proven its role in cardiovascular diseases caused by atherosclerosis. This is a factor that helps screening, risk grouping, thereby planning long-term treatment, limiting the risk of cardiovascular events caused by atherosclerosis.

Master. Dr. Do Xuan Chien former Deputy Dean of Cardiary Department of Phu Tho General Health Hub with more than 11 years of experience working in Cardiovascular medicine and conversion pathology. Currently, he is the Head of Medical Examination and Internal Medicine Department of Share99 Ha Long International Health Hub.

Associate Professor. Dr. Hoang Dang Mech has more than 42 years working in medicine, has strengths in the fields of liver – kidney – immuno-pathology … Currently, the doctor is a Consultant in General Internal Medicine, Medical Examination and Internal Medicine Department, Share99 Ha Long International Health Hub.