Lupus and various inflammatory diseases can be difficult to recognize due to the fact that they aren’t typically able to provide an exact test. As part of the diagnostic process, doctors may order a variety of tests of blood to assess the levels of inflammation as well as the presence of different antibodies, and much more.
An antinuclear antibody (ANA) test is among the tests for blood that your rheumatologist could require to aid in determining the diagnosis.
What Is the ANA Blood Test?
Your immune system creates antibodies, which are proteins that fight foreign invaders like viruses and bacteria. This helps you avoid getting sick. The antinuclear antibody is a type of antibody that attack those cells’ nuclei. The body produces ANAs in order to fight infections, however, in some diseases of the immune system, your body can produce ANAs even when there’s not an intruder.
Since there are no foreign cells to fight these antibodies target the body’s cells instead and cause inflammation, which causes joint pain as well as other symptoms. Doctors utilize these ANA tests to identify certain autoimmune diseases including Lupus. To Know more about ana test price in India must check out the service pages in detail.
What Do the Results of the ANA Blood Test Mean?
When your blood sample is taken then it’s taken to a lab in which it is diluted with a saline solution, and examined to determine the presence of antinuclear antibodies. About 15% of healthy individuals who don’t have any autoimmune condition will be positive for ANA and lab tests go further to determine the amount of ANA is present. The blood will be diluted gradually until the test is positive.
If a blood sample is extremely discolored, yet it’s still positive, it indicates to doctors there’s a higher amount of ANA within the blood as well as a greater likelihood that autoimmune issues cause this number to rise. “The higher the dilution and you are still able to detect the presence of ANAs more likely the chance of clinical significance will be,” states Christopher Collins, MD, attending rheumatologist and program director of the Rheumatology Division at MedStar Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C.
How Sensitive and Specific Is the ANA Test?
ANA tests are extremely sensitive, and therefore are adept in being able to identify “true positives.” According to the Johns Hopkins Lupus Center, the majority of patients suffering from systemic lupus will show an ANA test that is positive. ANA test.
An ANA test that is positive ANA test isn’t an indication of lupus, however. Positive ANA tests may also suggest other autoimmune disorders, for example, scleroderma and Sjogren’s Syndrome. Some healthy individuals are naturally high in ANA The likelihood of this increasing as you age. About one-third of seniors are favorable ANA results, as per MedlinePlus.
On the other hand, however, the ANA test isn’t extremely specific, so the results aren’t as effective in determining “true positives.” In a study conducted in 2015, the ANA test using a 1:180 blood-to-saline ratio has a specificity of 78 percent to detect systemic Lupus. This means that 78 percent of those who don’t have Lupus will be negative while the other 22 percent of those who do not have the condition may be positive.
The bottom line is: The high sensitivity and lower specificity of ANA test mean that most patients with lupus will be able to have positivity ANA test, however not every person who has a positive ANA test is suffering from lupus.
What Diseases Does the ANA Test Help Diagnose?
Positive ANA results are only one element for diagnosing autoimmune diseases. It’s typically linked to lupus, but the positive ANA result could also be an indication of Sjogren’s disease or scleroderma or liver disease and many more. “If you’ve got an ANA test that is positive, ANA then the rheumatologists utilize their experience to link the clinical signs and symptoms for further clinical testing to determine the nature of the disease, if there’s such a thing,” says Dr. Collins.
If you get the positive ANA test results, you’ll require additional blood samples for further tests to look for more specific kinds of ANAs. Specific types of antinuclear antibodies such as the anti-double-stranded DNA antibodies (anti-dsDNA) and the anti-Smith (anti-Sm) as well as the anti-Sm antibody, both linked with SLE as well as Scl-70 (associated with scleroderma) are more strongly linked to certain diseases than a standard ANA test.
What Diseases Does the ANA Test Help Rule Out?
Although the positive ANA result isn’t a definitive way to diagnose the presence of lupus or any other disease a negative test result could aid a doctor in identifying certain ailments. “A result that is negative for an ANA test on the case of a patient who has a low likelihood of lupus can help you decide”No, this doesn’t mean it’s the case and isn’t a sign of lupus,'” says Dr. Collins. “But the mere fact that ANA tests are positive doesn’t mean you’re heading to a specific way.” A doctor needs to place the ANA test results in the relation to the rest of the patient’s medical history and symptoms as well as other tests before determining a diagnosis. Here are some of the common lupus symptoms to look out for.
How Do Doctors Use the ANA Test to Monitor Your Disease?
“Different antibodies perform different functions,” says Dr. Collins. “Some are diagnostic. Certain are prognostic, which means that their presence may be used to predict patterns of behavior in disease. Certain are used for monitoring disease meaning that the quantity or presence is related to activity in the disease.”
This ANA test is ideal to help diagnose an illness, rather than making predictions or tracking the doctor. Collins says, so it’s likely that you only need to take the test one time when it’s relevant to a particular condition.
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