Was advised that PLASMA VISCOSITY is a test which is better than the normal one.
My wife asked the Nurse when she was giving a blood test as to if this supercide any of the tests for PMR or GCA. She was told that it is 'old hat' and that only Devon NHS now use it !!
Comments please???
The PV test is used in some areas of the UK to check inflammation levels, but it isn't widely used perhaps because it doesn't really tell much more than the CRP test.
Can't quite see where Devon comes into it!
The nurse said that Devon was the only county still using it !!! and that Somerset doesn't consider it worth using.
I had mine checked at Leeds when I first started attending their clinic. They said it was not used routinely in most hospitals due to cost, and that for most patients CRP is effective. They use it generally in atypical cases. My local hospital don't test for it.
I understood that the PV test although a bit better than ESR is a bit more complex to do, so is more expensive.
Where I live in north Somerset my local hospital test PV. I suspect that the main advantage is that any delays in getting the blood sample to the lab do not matter. I believe that it is used in some of the more rural parts of the UK.
As far as I know not a lot of labs do it - and it certainly doesn't tell you significantly more than ESR/CRP - just costs more. Not that ESR/CRP tell you a lot...
Tests and questions to ask rheum/internist. New PMR male patient diagnosed in March. 
Covid antibodies test
What do I ask/say to my rheumatologist this Thursday?
So many new an interesting words I'm learning
Scared of test results 
