Post-operative kinetics of C-reactive protein to distinguish between bacterial infection and systemic inflammation in infants after cardiopulmonary bypass surgery: the early and the late period.

In neonates and infants, CRP kinetics is not useful to predict infection in the first 72 hours after CPBP surgery due to the inflammatory response. However, in the late post-operative period, CRP is a valuable adjunctive diagnostic test in conjunction with clinical presentation and microbiological diagnostics.