Question about ANA test

[MBarbee]

:rolleyes: Hi,

I just got the results back from my rheumatologist (this is my second round of testing). The nurse called and said that everything was normal except the Ana which was a test for "arthritis"? My question is....does a positive ANA show arthritis? I thought that ANA showed autoimmune activity. This is the second ANA test that I have had done that was positive. The first one was a new kind of test called ANA DIRect and it was positive at 235 (not titers), the second one was ANA with reflex(I don't know what the numbers are on this one, I am going to call today and find out).

My diagnoses thus far are Fibromyalgia with possible Lupus. I am going back to see the rheumatologist in a week. I guess i am just confused about the "arthritis" bit.

IF anyone has any insight please let me know.

Thanks,
Mary Ann

[helloos]

Hey there. There is a lot on this site about ANA. So read on...... and go to the main site and read about it. Ana is only a piece of the puzzle and from what I read you can have positive and not have Lupus, you can have negative and have Lupus. I have started a poll on Ana which may be of interest to you. I am sure that someone will respond more to you. I think there is a time difference on here. I always am on when no one else is !!!!

[raggedyann1]

Barbee,

The ana test is an indicator of Auto-immune disease of which Lupus is one. With lupus we have arthralgia which is similar to arthritis only it is very rare to have joint damage with lupus. There are a few other "arthritis" criteria in other ctd's.

Hope this helps,
Karen

[AnnieMarie]

Hi Mary Ann,

I am waiting for more blood test so I do not know were I satnd yet. I have raynauds, anemia, the pain in my joints move from place to place ay any given time. I have a slight butterfly rash on my cheeks and nose, the more profound one is on both sides of my neck :hehe: a little different there. The reason for my reply to you is you seem to have the same kind of ANA results as I do, I do not see these results posted like this anywhere else so far. My ANA was 516, maybe you can help clear this up for me since our test seem similiar. This is all sooooo confusing :huh:

Sincerly,

Anniemarie

[Peace]

I'm glad to know there is some new testing for ANA. I have been to the Rhuemy one time since March. However he did not take this direct test. I'm curious did you have this test while feeling really bad? I was wondering if I should ask my Internal Med doctor to do this new testing. Currrently I am feeling a tad better..maybe I should wait and ask when I'm feeling the worst. Thanks for all the great information. :lol:

[MBarbee]

Hi,

I had this ANA Direct test done when I was feeling badly, since that is how I feel all the time right now. My doctor finally diagnosed me with Lupus and then told me it was really Mixed Connective Tissue Disease because another test was positive too. The Anti-RNP which I really don't know what that is. She told me that this new ANA test is more sensitive and I guess a positive is more positive for Lupus. She said that it was new to her also but that it was more reliable. I hope that helps anyone who has had this type of ANA test done.

Mary Ann

[runningteach]

Hi! I also had the new test. Mine was high and the other tests I took again was the SSA and SSB, which of course were high too. Doc tells me lupus based I guess on the ANA. I also have sjogrens. The thing I don't like about the new test is that there was no pattern. Does that mean it is definitely lupus then. My doc has no doubt that I have lupus. Hope this helps someone. Oh yeah, my results were 782.
Jeannie

[jewels]

ANA Direct (ANA-D) is a new test that LabCorp has developed. Instead of the old methods of diluting the blood till they can no longer see the antibodies (1:80, 1:160, etc) this new tests allows them to "count" the antibodies in the blood sample. Normal ranges are 0-120. I contacted The American Society for Laboratory Science and asked for their assistance because I had this test and the results but my doctor could not tell me anything other than they were high. I wanted to know how to compare to the old ANA tests and what did my result of 1,075 indicate. I'll post their reply to me below.

This info is from LabCorp's web site regarding their test:
LabCorp converted to atechnology for antinuclear antibody (ANA) testing that providesmore objective, higher quality results than traditional methodolo-gies. The new technology provides a direct measurement of autoan-tibodies relevant to ANA testing from a single patient sample. Thepresence of characterized autoantibodies in conjunction with a pos-itive ANA result and symptomatology can have far greater clinicalsignificance than an uncharacterized ANA result alone, thereby pos-itively affecting patient care.

Here is the reply I received from ASLS:
Dear Julie,

Thank you for contacting the American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science consumer web site with your question concerning your ANA test results. Your ANA test result is very high; your results are in U/mL units while some ANA test results are expressed as titers. Like many laboratory tests, different methods have different normal or expected ranges and the test result units may vary with the method. Your physician will look at your ANA test result relative to the expected range for the test method you had done to interpret your results. High ANA titers (>1:160) or high ANA test results in other units like U/mL are, in general, significant disease indicators. While ANA tests are diagnostically important, test results must be always be interpreted in the context of the clinical symptoms and presentation of the patient.

To compare ANA test results provided in different units (titers vs. U/mL e.g.), the results are looked at for clinical significance in the context of the patient's history, etc. High results by one test method should be high by another test method; low test results the same thing.

Hope this all helps you have more understanding regarding the ANA Direct blood tests.

Julie

[dudley]

Thanks Julie for that info.

As Karen stated the ana test only an indicator of Auto-immune disease might be present. Lupus is just one of these diseases. Also people can have a high ANA and have no systoms of a auto immune disease.

Elaine