Question:
I received a phone call from my GP’s office today. A nurse told me that my blood test showed an elevated ANA, speckled pattern. Does anyone know what this means? What is a normal level ANA? What does a speckled pattern indicate? She didn’t mention anything about a follow-up or a referal. Thanks, Ruth
Response:
I received a phone call from my GP’s office today. A nurse told me that my blood test showed an elevated ANA, speckled pattern. Does anyone know what this means? What is a normal level ANA? What does a speckled pattern indicate? She didn’t mention anything about a follow-up or a referal. Thanks, Ruth
Ruth I’m far from being an expert, but I do know that ANA stands for antinuclear antibodies. The test is often used for people with new onset arthritis in an attempt to exclude SLE (systemic lupus erythematosus) ANA is present in 5 to 10% of people without arthritic problems, and a positive result is not a sure indicator of lupus ~ it is often positive in people with RA, scleroderma, Sjogrens syndrome and mixed connective tissue disease. I don’t know what the speckled pattern refers to ~ probably the specific type of ANA test they ran. Hope that helps some. Barbara Joy
Response:
In my understanding that in general, it’s the titer of the ANA that’s more important than than the pattern of fluoresence. 1:40 and less is normal 1:160 and less is common in RA and older people, titers greater often mean some other sort of autoimmune disease such as SLE or scleroderma. It takes more than just an elevated ANA to diagnose anything, since it can be elevated in response to infections or even in "normal" people. It can also fluctuate over time, esp if you don’t have an autoimmune disease. If your ANA is greatly elevated IMO it needs to be followed up. Heidi – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I received a phone call from my GP’s office today. A nurse told me that my blood test showed an elevated ANA, speckled pattern. Does anyone know what this means? What is a normal level ANA? What does a speckled pattern indicate? She didn’t mention anything about a follow-up or a referal. Thanks, Ruth
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