Can anybody simplify the anca test. ?

[Bailey24]

My daughter had bloods done today - some of which are for Anca test. - the results will not be available until tomorrow - she had already been confirmed as having wegeners disease & is receiving treatment for this

Can anybody explain what the anca test is for in simple terms ?! I am a bit confuse by internet info .

[RichardE Volunteer]

Hi Bailey.

ANCA stands for Anti-Neutrophil-Cytoplasmic Antibody. In ANCA associated vasculitis (Wegener's, MPA or CSS) the immune system produces ANCA antibodies that play a role in causing the inflammation of the blood vessels.

Specifically, the ANCA antibodies attach to the neutrophils in the blood making the neutrophil attach to the blood vessel wall and causing damage and inflammation by releasing chemicals that usually fight infection.

At the moment it is not understood why patients develop ANCA antibodies.

There are two main types of ANCA called c-ANCA (anti-PR3 ANCA) and p-ANCA (anti-MPO ANCA). c-ANCA is more commonly found in patients with Wegener's and p-ANCA is more common in MPA, although confusingly either can be found in both diseases. People with CSS may have p-ANCA or c-ANCA or no ANCA at all.

The ANCA test is used as a rough guide to how active the disease is. But it is not a definite measure of whether someone has active Vasculitis.

Some patients can be ANCA positive and others ANCA negative. Individual patients may be positive at one blood test and negative at another. So your consultant should only use the ANCA test results as a guide to treatment, alongside other test results and a full examination and discussion with you about your current state of health.

Sorry I can't make this any more simple. As you've realised it's a confusing topic.

Hope this helps,

Richard.

[Bailey24 in reply to RichardE]

Thanks for your reply. - it certainly helps - think I understand it as much as I'm going to !

[AndrewT in reply to RichardE]

Dear Richard,

First of all-very well explained indeed! I was wondering quite how to answer this one. Secondly-how the hell did you find out what ANCA stood for?

I award you not one, not even two or three but about fifteen Gold Stars Richard. I also include a place at the 'top table'-just tell them that I 'said'!

Before I sign off, one more 'thing'....A, somewhat belated, Happy Easter to you.

AndrewT

[RichardE Volunteer in reply to AndrewT]

Thanks Andrew, I shall wear my gold stars with pride

I think I got some of the info about ANCA from the VUK website here :

vasculitis.org.uk/about-vas...

But I suspect some of it I just picked up from Googling various medical sites on t'internet. That can be a bit risky but if you watch your sources it can be very helpful.

Oh and a belated Happy Easter to you too !

Cheers,

Richard.

[Chris-Bromsgrove]

Hi Bailey

You have probably already established that ANCA is an acronym for Anti-neutrophil-cytoplasmic antibody. It is an antibody that is produced by the body's immune system when you have ANCA associated vasculitis, such as Wegeners Granulomatosis (or GPA). It is this rogue antibody that causes the white blood cells (neutrophils) to attack the blood vessels. Measuring the level of ANCA in the blood provides the medical team with one of the measures to evaluate the level of vasculitis activity. During the initial treatment ANCA will be monitored on a regular basis to determine whether the treatment is bringing the vasculitis under control and ultimately into remission. Hopefully you should see your daughters ANCA levels drop as treatment progresses. How far it drops is very dependent on the person, so don't read too much into the actual figures. ANCA is just one of a numbers of measures used to assess the level of vasculitis activity. Hope this simplifies it.

Chris

[Bailey24 in reply to Chris-Bromsgrove]

Thank you - that certainly helps - think I understand it as much as I am going to. ! My head is spinning with all this info to take in !

[antony9500]

Good morning,

Like you I have never really sussed out the ANCA thing let alone remember what it stands for - markers is another phrase you hear.

The Royal Free, along with some other Kidney Departments give you access to all of your blood tests, via internet, but even then, when you look at numbers and compare to 'normal', they are often within normal. One read last week we were told at least it's back down to 170 per???? It may have been well over 500 but we will never know as the test only reads up to 170

We just trust the doctors at the moment, we look at numbers, we compare but at the end of the day it's Giles' day to day general well being that counts.

Every one appears to be different and different numbers in different sequences make a difference.

As time goes on you may 'get' the numbers and know all the names or leave it to others.

[Bailey24]

Thanks for reply - I sometimes think I am wanting to understand in too much detail the treatments. & testing that is being done !

[Hidden]

If your daughter has GPA it seems entirely understandable and healthy that you would want to know and understand the implications of these blood test results. It is also a very helpful question for those of us coming quite new to Vasculitis and still learning about how it is diagnosed and monitored.

I wonder if anyone can tell me what other test results to look out for in a full blood count to see if Vasculitis, as opposed to other types of inflammatory disease, is present?

Best wishes for your daughter's improvement, Twitchy