My C-reactive protein is raised from 48 to 96 with Pott's disease. What should I do further?

Question

Hello doctor,

I have Potts disease, and after two months, my C-reactive protein has gone from 48 to 96. What further course of action should I take?

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

Your Pott's disease, I assume, is being treated with an anti-tuberculosis drug cocktail (dosage accurately adjusted according to your body weight). The spine surgeon can decide on healing and response to treatment based on your clinical response like a decrease in pain and healing signs on the follow-up x-ray. If you had done an MRI earlier, it can be repeated at three months to assess the decrease in size of the bone abscess if it was seen earlier. In TB the radiologic and biochemical healing usually lags behind clinical response by around six to eight weeks. You do not have to worry about one parameter as the whole picture has to be considered. Moreover, there are a lot of reasons for the CRP to increase, including various other infections like sore throat, fever, injury, stress, etc. Serial CRP can help, but one reading need not be taken very seriously. Please continue your anti-TB treatment without a break, and if you do not progress then the diagnosis also might have to be reconsidered as some other things can also masquerade like TB (A transpedicular biopsy and the histologic report is the only definitive proof of the same).