OBJECTIVES To investigate whether discriminating the classic perinuclear antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (P-ANCA) pattern from atypical P-ANCA and uninterpretable patterns improves the diagnostic utility of ANCA testing. METHODS All ANCA requests (n = 3,544) referred to Pathology Queensland were analyzed prospectively over 4 months for P-ANCA pattern subtypes and myeloperoxidase (MPO)-ANC...

We report a 16-year-old previously healthy boy who was admitted to hospital with fever, constitutional symptoms, purpura, additive arthritis, dysentery, rapid progressive renal failure, resembling Henoch- Schuenlein purpura, accompanied with retropharyngeal abscess. Kidney biopsy revealed rapid progressive glomerulonephritis with crescent formation, without immune deposition in immune fluoresce...

PURPOSE To report a case of idiopathic retinal vasculitis, aneurysms and neuroretinitis (IRVAN) syndrome associated with positive perinuclear antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (P-ANCA). CASE REPORT A 51-year-old man presented with loss of vision in his right eye since many years ago and blurred vision in his left eye over the past year. Ophthalmologic examination revealed optic atrophy and ...

Background: Inflammatory bowel disease unclassified (IBDU) is considered to be an aberrant immune response with loss of tolerance to many antigens. Objective: This paper tries to address whether there is any value to test for auto-antibodies in such patients. Methods: 60 patients with inflammatory bowel disease unclassified participated in the study. Auto-antibodies to nuclear antigen, intestin...

and dysmorphic red blood cell casts. A quantitative serum pregnancy test was positive. Bronchoalveolar lavage retrieved blood-tinged fluid, numerous red blood cells and hemosiderin-laden macrophages but few neutrophils. Microbiology studies for bacteria, mycobacteria and fungi in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid were negative. Perinuclear antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (P-ANCA) with spec...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Lupus nephritis is a classic immune complex glomerulonephritis. In contrast, antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies are associated with necrotizing and crescentic glomerulonephritis, in the absence of significant immune deposits. Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies are detected by indirect immunofluorescence in 20% of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. We rep...

Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA)are well known to be associated with small sized vessel vasculitic diseases such as microscopic polyangiitis (MPA), allergic granulomatous angiitis (AGA), and Wegener's granulomatosis (WG) (1). One subtype is an antibody against myeloperoxidase (MPO), which stains in a perinuclear pattern (P ANCA)by indirect immunofluorescence (IIF) using a neutrophil...

BACKGROUND Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCAs) are found in the sera of patients with vasculitides and ulcerative colitis. Using indirect immunofluorescence on ethanol fixed neutrophils, ANCAs can be divided into two types: those that give a cytoplasmic staining pattern (C-ANCA) and those that give a perinuclear staining pattern (P-ANCA). Some studies have indicated that the perinucle...

Granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) is a life-threatening disease characterized by granulomatous inflammation and antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA) associated systemic vasculitis, classically involving upper and lower respiratory tracts and kidney. Milder forms of disease restricted to respiratory tract is referred to as localized GPA (loc-GPA) [1,2]. The European Vasculitis Study G...