Introduced January 2010, Updated December 2013
ESR will be performed for the following clinical indications
1. The initial request for investigation of:
- Polymyalgia rheumatica
- Temporal Arteritis
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Where two (2) previous requests for ESR on the same patient with the same clinical details for PR, TA or RA have been performed, ESR will not be performed.
2. Clinical details of:
- Adult Still’s disease
- Ankylosing spondylitis (AS)
- Anti Phospholipid Syndrome (APS)
- Backpain / Orthopaedic surgery
- Childhood / Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis
- Mixed Connective Tissue Disease (MCTD)
- Polymyositis/dermatomyositis (PM/DM)
- Psoriatic arthropathy
- Reactive arthristis (incl. Reiter’s syndrome)
- Sjogren’s syndrome
- Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE)
- Systemic sclerosis: CREST
- Scleroderma
- Undifferentiated connective tissue disease
- Vasculitis
- Churg-Strauss Syndrome
- TB
- Inflammatory bowel disease
- Crohns disease
- Ulcerative colitis
- Acute rheumatic fever (ARF)
- Endocarditis monitoring
- Hogkins for staging
Further information
A comment will appear on the test report when ESR is not performed. CRP should be used for monitoring ongoing response to treatment.
For specific requests for ESR testing beyond those clinical indications in the list above, please
consult with a pathologist at Awanui Labs -Wellington wlg.pathologist@awanuilabs.co.nz