Clinical Lab Tests: Full Blood Count and Inflammatory Markers

blood dyscrasia

a medical condition that refers to abnormal or disordered blood cells

what can blood dyscrasia lead to

various health problems such as anaemia thrombocytopenia and neutropenia

what can blood dyscrasia be caused by

medication use

may occur with cytotoxic or non-cytotoxic agents

what do non-cytotoxic drugs do to blood cell counts

deplete them

how to manage blood dyscrasias

monitoring

causality

suitability of ongoing medicine use

therapeutic management

how to manage blood dyscrasias - monitoring

FBC

other symptoms and signs

early recognition

name 2 inflammatory markers

erythrocyte sedimentation rate

c-reactive protein

erythrocyte sedimentation rate

time taken for erythrocytes to fall or sediment to the bottom of a test tube at room temp

non specific

what does an elevated ESR indicate

disease

which diseases is ESR useful in diagnosing

RA

chron's disease

ulcerative colitis

which diseases can ESR be used to monitor the effectiveness of therapy

chronic infection - tuberculosis, endocarditis

what is CRP

an acute phase protein

it is a response to tissue damage, infection, inflammation and malignancy

how are CRP values used

they are not diagnostic, and can only be interpreted along with other clinical and pathological findings. •

rising CRP

Indicative of inflammation, infection, disease

declining CRP

indicative of recovery

Monitoring response to drug therapy

importance of baseline measurements.

Consideration of changes over time.

Potential signal or indicator of

- Therapeutic benefit

- Adverse effect