ESR

=ESR=

ESR stands for erythrocyte sedimentation rate. It is a test that indirectly measures how much inflammation is in the body. However, it rarely leads directly to a specific diagnosis.

An increased ESR rate may be due to:
 * Anaemia
 * Endocarditis
 * Kidney disease
 * Osteomyelitis
 * Pregnancy
 * Rheumatic fever
 * Rheumatoid arthritis
 * Syphilis
 * Systemic lupus erythematosus
 * Thyroid disease
 * Tuberculosis
 * Other inflammatory conditions

Very high ESR levels occur with:
 * Body-wide (systemic) infection
 * Giant cell arteritis
 * Hyperfibrinogenaemia (increased fibrinogen levels in the blood)
 * Multiple myeloma
 * Macroglobulinaemia - primary
 * Necrotizing vasculitis
 * Polymyalgia rheumatica

 The ESR is widely used in clinical medicine giving information of a general character with the same usefulness as body temperature, pulse rate and leucocyte count. It is a measure of the presence and severity of inflammatory and other morbid processes. While a normal ESR cannot be taken to exclude organic disease, the fact remains that most acute or chronic infections, neoplastic diseases, collagen diseases, renal or other diseases associated with changes in plasma proteins lead to acceleration of sedimentation. It is also useful in monitoring disease activity in certain disorders. It has been used for this purpose in tuberculosis, rheumatic fever, rheumatoid arthritis, Hodgkin's disease and non-Hodgkin's lymphomas, myeloma and macroglobulinaemia.

Resources
[|MedlinePlus - ESR] [|SydPath - ESR]