CRP and heart failure: Patients had to be excluded because of the following reasons: 10 patients (21.7%) withdrew their consent; 9 patients (17.4%) needed antibiotic therapy, which modulates CRP levels itself; 4 (9%) patients needed an ICD implantation, which requests single-shot antibiotic therapy and leads to a rise in CRP levels itself; 3 patients (6.4%) needed other surgical intervention; 2 patients (4.2%) died due to heart failure within the follow-up; and 2 patients (4.3%) were diagnosed with cancer within the follow-up period.