General Medicine

» Elaine Moore - The ANA Test

Patients who have had ANA tests for several decades are used to the early simplified tests. In 1948, the lupus prep test preceded the ANA. This test was used to show that the white blood cells in lupus could take on changes not normally seen in the blood circulation after being treated with chemicals. The test was rudimentary and most laboratories performed insufficient tests to become proficient at them.
The ANA test is entirely different because we measure the actual protein product created by the immune system as part of the immune response. While these antibodies have specific functions, they also form amazing test results, staining the slides with patterns they dictate.
The pitfalls are that doctors may think every patient they have with lupus or rheumatoid arthritis will have the same ANA profile. This skews diagnosis. In fact, most patients will have ANA results that come and go, rising when the condition worsens and mysteriously retreating during remission. Antibodies may be lodged as immune complexes into tissue rather than freely ciruclating in the blood stream. In this case, tests may need to be repeated several time before the antibodies show up.