What is considered a positive ANA?

Your test is positive if it finds antinuclear antibodies in your blood. A negative result means it found none. A positive test doesn’t mean that you have an autoimmune condition. Between 3% and 15% of people with no conditions have antinuclear antibodies.

What does an ANA titer of 1 640 mean?

Generally, the higher the titer, the more likely the patient is to have a connective tissue disorder. The titer shows how many times the patient’s serum was diluted before the antibodies could no longer be detected. Thus, a titer of 1:640 shows a greater concentration of ANA than 1:40.

What does an ANA titer of 1 160 mean?

Titers ≥ 1:160 usually indicate the presence of active SLE, although occasionally other autoimmune disease may induce these high titers. There are now known groups of ANA-negative lupus patients.

How common is speckled ANA?

The most frequent ANA patterns were coarse speckled pattern (154 patients, 31.2%), nucleolar pattern (89 patients, 18.0%), fine speckled pattern (57 patients, 11.5%), and speckled pattern (48 patients, 9.7%).

Should I be worried about a positive ANA test?

The presence of antinuclear antibodies is a positive test result. But having a positive result doesn’t mean you have a disease. Many people with no disease have positive ANA tests — particularly women older than 65.

What ANA pattern is lupus?

Anti-double-stranded DNA (dsDNA), in high titer, is nearly specific to lupus. It is usually associated with a homogeneous or peripheral ANA pattern. The antibody is named for its ability to bind to the normal DNA in patients’ cells.

Does speckled ANA mean lupus?

Speckled (tiny dots throughout the nucleus)—a common pattern, not specific, but often indicating anti-Sm or anti-RNP antibodies (see below) found in lupus or mixed connective tissue disease.

Can you have a speckled ANA and not have an autoimmune disease?

The speckled pattern is seen in many conditions and in people who do not have any autoimmune disease. These patterns are determined by technical experts who routinely interpret the tests.

What should I do if my ANA is positive?

If your ANA test results are positive, your health care provider will likely order more tests, especially if you have symptoms of disease. If you have questions about your results, talk to your health care provider. Learn more about laboratory tests, reference ranges, and understanding results.

Can a positive ANA go away?

One cannot be said to have lupus if the antibodies are abnormal but the person is well. The new criteria require that the test for antinuclear antibody (ANA) must be positive, at least once, but not necessarily at the time of the diagnosis decision because an ANA can become negative with treatment or remission.

What cancers cause a positive ANA?

Neoplastic diseases may cause positive ANA. Some authors have described that ANA is found in the sera from lung, breast, head and neck cancer patients as frequently as in RA and SLE 3, 4, 5. Chapman et al. 6 has suggested that in breast cancer they may be used as an aid to early diagnosis.