What is Westergren blood test?
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What is Westergren blood test?
The Westergren method measures the distance (in millimeters) at which red blood cells in anticoagulated whole blood fall to the bottom of a standardized, upright, elongated tube over one hour due to the influence of gravity. The tube used for the test is called the Westergren tube.
How do you do the Westergren method?
Westergren method: The Westergren method requires collecting 2 ml of venous blood into a tube containing 0 . 5 ml of sodium citrate. It should be stored no longer than 2 hours at room temperature or 6 hours at 4 °C. The blood is drawn into a Westergren-Katz tube to the 200 mm mark.
What test is done by the Westergren method?
The ESR test measures the rate at which the red blood cells (RBCs), or erythrocytes, in a sample of whole blood, fall to the bottom of the Westergren tube. This process of “falling” is called sedimentation.
What is the modified Westergren method?
The Westergren method uses citrate, a liquid-based anticoagulant, resulting in dilution of blood, inaccuracies of which significantly affect the ESR. Modifications of the reference method, also called the modified Westergren method, are also widely used and use EDTA in place of citrate as an anticoagulant.
What happens if ESR is high?
A faster-than-normal rate may indicate inflammation in the body. Inflammation is part of your immune response system. It can be a reaction to an infection or injury. Inflammation may also be a sign of a chronic disease, an immune disorder, or other medical condition.
What if ESR value is high?
If your ESR is high, it may be related to an inflammatory condition, such as: Infection. Rheumatoid arthritis. Rheumatic fever.
How do you read ESR results?
ESR test results are measured in millimeters per hour (mm/hr). The higher the number, the higher the likelihood of inflammation. Overall, females naturally have higher ESR levels. between 0 and 20 mm/hr.
Is high ESR serious?
ESR levels higher than 100 mm/hr could suggest a serious disease, such as infection, heart disease, or cancer [58, 5, 3, 6]. ESR levels higher than normal may predict cancer or cancer progression, like metastasis [59, 60, 61, 62, 63].
What does Westergren mean?
[ wĕs′tər-grĕn′, vĕs′- ] n. A method for estimating the sedimentation rate of red blood cells in whole blood by mixing venous blood with an aqueous solution of sodium citrate and allowing the mixture to stand in an upright standard pipet and, after one hour, reading the millimeters the cells have descended.
What is normal ESR level?
The normal range is 0 to 22 mm/hr for men and 0 to 29 mm/hr for women.
