Significance of ANA Titer? Posted: 07-03-08 12:08pm
I have several signs of lupus:
. ANA of 1:160 - speckled pattern
. A VERY large amount of protein in
urine (creatinine ratio = 888.9 when it
should be less than 30.
. Significant joint pain
. A rash on the face that I'm not
sure is or is not lupus related.
Additional blood tests have recently
been completed, but I won't get those
results until July 30th. (Complement C3
and C4)
My question is - "How significant is
an ANA result of 1:160? I know that not
everyone who has a positive ANA test has
lupus. But I guess my question is - is
1:160 just a slightly elevated result or
is it moderately elevated or?? How
signficant is a result of 1:160?
|
newtolupus
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 14 Jul 2008 Posts: 5
Posted: 07-14-08 15:15pm
My understanding is that most labs
consider a titer of 1:80 and higher
positive. My rheumatologist told me that
most lupus patients have an ANA of 1:1280
or higher. As an aside, I've also learned
that a lot of labs use machine testing,
and a speckled pattern can be diffcult for
the machines to read so they can result in
an inaccurate negative or lower reading.
I think with lupus, the higher the titer
the greater the indication that it is in
fact SLE, as opposed to other
possibilities. Bottome line is that it is
used as an idicator - the next round of
lab tests should be telling in terms of a
diagnosis.
