[Old and new inflammatory biomarkers: what utility for general internist?].

The measure of inflammatory biomarkers such as erythrocyte sedimentation rate, CRP and procalcitonin is widely used for diagnostic and prognostic purposes in patients with fever or inflammatory syndromes. However, their true diagnostic accuracy and usefulness are not well known and are probably overestimated. The purpose of this article is to summarize the current evidence about the accuracy and usefulness of these tests in different contexts of internal medicine.