What is the erthyrocyte sedimentation rate good for?

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DarkProtoman - 05 Sep 2007 21:41 GMT

What is the erthyrocyte sedimentation rate good for? All I know is
that it could mean inflammation if it's elevated, but other than that,
it's pretty much useless on it's own.

And do these hypothetical values of a fictional patient, Chloe Asbill
Sartorius suggest anemia, and, if so, what type:

Hct: 20%
Percentage of reticulocytes: .05%
RPI: .02
WBC: 20%
Platelets: 20%

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Manky Badger - 06 Sep 2007 09:44 GMT

"DarkProtoman" <Protoman2050@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1189031501.194409.300030@d55g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...

> What is the erthyrocyte sedimentation rate good for? All I know is
> that it could mean inflammation if it's elevated, but other than
> that,
> it's pretty much useless on it's own.

I tell my trainees that an ESR is the one-stop test for the workshy.
If it's high, the patient is ill.
Which is useful if a patient complains of non specific symptoms it shows
he's not trying to get a sick note.
However it gives no information at all about what the illness is, and a
normal result doesn't exclude disease.

> And do these hypothetical values of a fictional patient, Chloe Asbill
> Sartorius suggest anemia, and, if so, what type:
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> WBC: 20%
> Platelets: 20%

What does WBC: 20% and Platelets: 20% mean? Percentages of what?

An Hct of 10% would indicate the patient has extreme blood loss. So extreme
they are about to die. And so obvious you wouldn't need to ask on usenmet
what the cause of the anaemia is.
Somewhere else in this thread you mention MCHC of 5 g/dl . that just doesn't
happen. Ever.

Could you check what the results were again please, and include the units.

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