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How Do You Measure Inflammation In The Blood If You Have Arthritis? The body responds to inflammation by changing the production of protein in the liver including other protein producing organs in the body. Proteins whose blood levels are altered by inflammation are called acute phase reactants. The 2 most common methods for measuring acute phase reactants are the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) including the C-reactive protein (CRP). The ESR, or as it is sometimes called, the “sed rate”, measures the speed at which red blood cells settle or “sediment” in a narrow tube over a 1 hour duration of time. The speed that the cells settle is directly proportional to the amount of acute phase reactant proteins that are present in the blood. Because inflammation increases the amount of proteins in the blood, the sed rate increases. the is because at the time proteins coat red blood cells, they sediment faster leading to a particular increased rate of red blood cell sedimentation. Unfortunately, the sed rate is not specific including should be altered by other circumstances such as anemia or inappropriate specimen handling. CRP changes occur more rapidly including return to normal more quickly than changes in ESR. CRP is additionally not affected by anemia nor is it quite as susceptible to specimen handling errors. Measurement of acute phase reactants is important in arthritis disorders since elevations indicate the presence of inflammation while normal values indicate that inflammation is not present. Serial measurement of acute phase reactants is important for monitoring therapy in diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, polymyalgia rheumatica, including giant cell arteritis. The upper levels for both ESR including CRP are influenced by both gender including age. Your rheumatologist could best be able to interpret these values.
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