en Surgery Surgery Original Research Original Research <p> <strong> Abstract </strong><strong></strong></p><p> <strong> Background </strong>: Cancer has not been elucidated in colerectal site. C-reactive protein </p><p>  (CRP) is a product synthesized in hepatocytes and has been reported to be up-regulated </p><p>  by such proinflammatory cytokines as interleukin-1 (IL-1), interleukin-6 (IL-6), </p><p>  and tumor necrosis factor (TNF). The significance of a preoperative serum elevation </p><p>  was evaluated using CRP as a predictive indicator for the malignant potential and </p><p>  prognosis. </p><p> <strong> Methods: </strong>Forty consecutive patient with colorectal cancer whose local lesions </p><p>  were resected in our department, plus forty healthy volunteers, were selected. Any </p><p>  patient with inflammatory diseases such as infection or collagen disease was excluded </p><p>  from the current study. The preoperative serum CRP level and the control group </p><p>  were measured. The relationships between the serum elevation of CRP and both the </p><p>  clinicopathologic factors and prognosis of the patients was investigated. </p><p> <strong> Results: </strong>The rate of patients with elevated serum CRP level was significantly </p><p>  higher in the colorectal cancer patients in comparison to the control group (55% versus </p><p>  2.5%). Furthermores the incidence of liver metastasis, peritoneal carcinomatosis, </p><p>  histopathologic lymph nodes metastasis, and tumor invasion in colorectal cancer patients </p><p>  with a preoperatively elevated serum CRP level were significantly more frequent </p><p>  than in those with a negative serum CRP level. The survival rates of the colorectal </p><p>  cancer patients without a preoperative elevation of the serum CRP proved to </p><p>  be significantly more favorable than that of the colorectal cancer patients with such </p><p>  an elevation (94.4% versus 59.1% P<0.001). </p><p> <strong> Conclusion: </strong>Apreoperative serum elevation of CRP was thus found to be an indicator </p><p>  of the malignant potential of the tumor as well as prognostic factor for patients </p><p>  with colorectal cancer. </p><p>  </p> C-reactive protein,colorectal cancer. 164 169 http://mjiri.iums.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-1-11&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Seyed Reza Mousavi 20031947532846001665 20031947532846001665 No Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Shohada-e-Tajrish Hospital, Arash Najaf beygi, a.najafbeygi@yahoo.com 20031947532846001666 20031947532846001666 Yes Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Shohada-e-Tajrish Hospital, Mohsen Talebianfar 20031947532846001667 20031947532846001667 No Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Shohada-e-Tajrish Hospital, Mohamad Zeinalzadeh 20031947532846001668 20031947532846001668 No Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Ataollah Heidari 20031947532846001669 20031947532846001669 No Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences,