Predictive value of inflammatory markers for cancer diagnosis in primary care: a prospective cohort study using electronic health records

Early identification of cancer in primary care is important and challenging. This UK based cohort study examined test results of 160,000 patients to evaluate the diagnostic utility of inflammatory markers, C-reactive protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and plasma viscosity, for cancer diagnosis in primary care. The results of the study suggested that though cancer should be considered in patients with raised inflammatory markers, their poor sensitivity limited their usefulness as a ‘rule-out’ test. Read the full article.