Vasculitis Profile Test

Vasculitis is a serious medical condition which stems from the inflammation of your blood vessels; this inflammation can occur due to an underlying infection such as lymphoma or occur for no determinable reason in which case, your condition is often referred to as primary vasculitis. But the challenge lies in getting the same detected early on so that your physician can provide you with effective treatment to help counter the effects of vasculitis as well as treat the underlying health condition that caused your blood cells to inflame in the first place.

<p>While there are no additional preparations that you would have to undergo for the test to determine
if you have vasculitis or not – your physician will require you not to ingest anything for a period of six
hours prior to the test. After a brief physical examination, your doctor would recommend that you
take the vasculitis profile test to determine if you have vasculitis or not. He would recommend this
measure if you have already started displaying some of the symptoms associated with vasculitis,
such as –
Numbness of the nerve
Fever,
Rash,
Night chills,
Unexplained weight loss.
Usually, a blood panel test should be sufficient to determine if you have vasculitis or not; but your
doctor may require you to submit more samples in the form of Urine and saliva for additional testing
to confirm initial diagnosis.</p>

The test should provide you and your physician with the results within a short space of time; the blood test is often used as an early diagnostic tool in the identification of vasculitis, after which more advanced screening tests would be done to identify the causative factors. It is essential that you get yourself tested at the earliest.

It is advised that you wear a short sleeve shirt to allow the technician easy access to your arm to withdraw the required blood. He would swab the general area of your arm with antiseptic, use a tourniquet to make your vein swell up, so that he can use a standard size injection to draw some of the blood out, into a container. Once he has withdrawn the required sample, you would be required to gently press on the wound with a small bandage to prevent any additional bruising. This sample would then be processed to determine the current levels of C – reactive protein which is often an indication of inflammation as well as look for the presence of certain antibodies associated with vasculitis.