ANA question

[josee94]

Hello,

I hope you don't mind me butting in, but I'm trying to understand my ANA test result and this seemed like the best place to ask!

I was just wondering if anyone could help me in decoding? I had an ANA test last week which has come back positive, with a titre of 1/1280. I'm aware of what the ANA is for, but does anyone know what the titre means and is that particularly low or high?

[Spanielmadlady]

Titre is the ratio ....the number of times the blood sample can be diluted and still give a positive result.1:40 is negative 1;80 is weak positive 1:160,1:320,1:640 etc.1:1280 is high .you will most probably need a DS-DNA blood test as well.

[whisperit]

Hello josee94

When they test for ANAs, they dilute the blood sample by greater and greater amounts until it no longer reacts. So a sample that goes negative after just 1:2 dilution has very few ANAs in it. Since many people's blood will have some ANAs in it when tested, low numbers are considered negative (a 1:40 or even 1:80 dilution is usually considered negative).

Your sample remained positive until it had been diluted by a factor of 1:1280. That is clearly above the threshold for a "positive" result, and suggests your body is producing antibodies against one or more body tissues. It's not definitive, though, so your diagnosis will depend on other symptoms and tests.

The upper limit for most tests is a further dilution down to 1: 2560, as diluting the sample further doesn't add any useful information.

Sometimes the ANA result will also have a description of the pattern of the result eg "banded" or "speckled". This sometimes helps with understanding what it going on, but frankly, not much. Hope that helps x

[josee94 in reply to whisperit]

Thanks, that's really helpful!

Mine was "speckled", but I have no idea what (if anything) that indicates.

The reason I had the test done is that I've been feeling achey and under the weather and my full blood count kept coming back with a low red cell count and low neutrophils. Each time they did it, it got lower! So they ran this ANA test.

I recently changed GP surgery due to moving and I was surprised because they suggested to run this test almost straight away (despite still not having my previous medical notes, which seem to have disappeared into the ether!). My previous GP said the aches and all that was probably due to fibromyalgia or "functional" pain, and I did pass that onto the new GP, but they said that fibromyalgia would be unlikely to cause these issues on the blood test.

[whisperit in reply to josee94]

Your new GP is correct - you are unlikely to have that result as a consequence of fibro. What the actual cause is may be a mystery for some time yet, but it might be a good thing that you obviously have a GP who is willing to push for a diagnosis a little more creatively than your last.

As for the patterning, I have yet to speak to any rheumatologist who has been particularly concerned with the ANA pattern, even though I have read a number of things about its diagnostic significance. Things in systemic autoimmunity are rarely clear-cut.

Do keep in touch here if you have any other questions or just to vent x

[Krazykat26]

Hi josee94 🤗 welcome to the group 💐You're not butting in at all...u posed a very good question n I'm always interested to read responses here coz then I get to have a greater understanding of the ANA titres too. Maths n science were never my strong point 😉😹🌈😽😽xx

[josee94]

Thanks very much for the infos. I am a bit clueless as to what this all means but I'm happy that my GP is definitely wanting to look into it. They were originally considering to make a referral to haematology because of the low counts, but she now says a rheumatology referral would be more appropriate. I am just nervous that I'm wasting their time, because my previous GP was very adamant that it was a "functional disorder without any somatic cause" and I find it hard now to think that it could be otherwise!

[KayHimm]

Jossee94 -

It sounds like your GP got concerned when your labs showed some abnormalities. The positive ANA may confirm suspicion that autoimmunity is causing your symptoms and blood abnormalities.

Interpreting these tests is hard. The rheumatologist will examine, maybe do more tests and explain to you what everything means. It is all important- how high the titre, what the specific tests show and what they note on exam.

Good thing this GP was alert!

Let us know how things go.

K