ESR test request protocol
Introduced January 2010
ESR will be performed for the following clinical indications
1. An initial request for investigation of:
- Polymyalgia rheumatica
- Temporal Arteritis
- Rheumatoid arthritis
2. Connective Tissue disorders:
- Childhood RA (JCA)
- Adult Still’s disease
- Ankylosing spondylitis (AS)
- Psoriatic arthropathy
- Reactive arthristis (incl. Reiter’s syndrome)
- Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) & variants
- Sjogren’s syndrome
- Undifferentiated connective tissue disease
- Mixed connective tissue disease (MCTD)
- Polymyositis/dermatomyositis (PM/DM)
- Overlap syndromes
- Systemic sclerosis; CREST & limited variants
- Anti-phospholipid syndromes
3. Inflammatory bowel disease
- Crohns disease
- Ulcerative colitis
4. Other conditions
- Hogkins for staging
- Acute rheumatic fever
- Endocarditis monitoring
ESR will not be performed for the following situations
Where two previous requests for ESR on a patient with the same clinical details have been performed for:
- Polymyalgia rheumatica
- Temporal Arteritis
- Rheumatoid arthritis
Further information
A comment will appear on the test report when ESR test is not performed.
CRP should be used for monitoring ongoing response to treatment.
For specific requests for ESR testing beyond the clinical indications in the list above, please
consult an Aotea Pathology pathologist.