Inflammation Test
Inflammation occurs when your body’s immune system reacts to stimuli. These stimuli can be in the form of pathogens, irritants, or damaged cells. Inflammation plays a critical role in maintaining your body’s immune system and heart function, and in keeping you healthy. The results may give you an indication of whether you are at risk. Click below to view the full spectrum of tests included.
What's Included?
High Sensitivity C Reactive Protein (hs-CRP): Measurement of CRP is useful for the detection and evaluation of infection, tissue injury and inflammatory disorders. Measurement of high sensitivity CRP (hs-CRP), when used in conjunction with traditional clinical laboratory evaluation of acute coronary syndromes (ACS), may be useful as an independent marker of prognosis for recurrent events in patients with stable coronary disease or Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS).
Procalcitonin (PCT): PCT is a peptide precursor of the hormone calcitonin, the latter being involved with calcium homeostasis. Measurement of PCT can be used as a marker of severe sepsis and generally grades well with the degree of sepsis, although levels of PCT in the blood are very low. PCT levels may be useful to distinguish bacterial infections from nonbacterial infections.
Serum Amyloid Alpha (SAA): Serum Amyloid Alpha (SAA) is a biomarker of tissue injury and inflammation. SAAs are involved in the acute phase responses; these are the immediate early host responses to inflammation. These proteins have been implicated in several disease states including rheumatoid arthritis, atherosclerosis, AA amyloidosis and coronary artery disease. This test can be used as a sensitive index in the diagnosis of infection and inflammation.
FAQ
They detect inflammation in the body, caused by many diseases including infections, auto-immune conditions, and cancers.
hs-CRP testing can be done at any time of day because it does not require fasting.
In general, the higher the hs-CRP, the higher your risk of developing heart disease and its complications such as heart attacks, strokes, peripheral vascular disease, and sudden cardiac death.
There is no need to fast or avoid liquids before having a CRP test. However, people having a high sensitivity CRP (hs-CRP) test may have other blood tests at the same time, and these may require fasting for 9–12 hours beforehand.
A Procalcitonin test is mostly used if you are seriously ill and your provider thinks you may have a systemic infection (an infection that affects your entire body). The test helps find out whether bacteria or a virus is causing your infection.
You don’t need any special preparation for a procalcitonin test.