Ann Acad Med Singap
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Ann Acad Med Singap · Jan 1998
ReviewThe appropriate use of antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA) testing in rheumatic diseases.
The antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA) test is now available in most routine diagnostic immunology laboratories. Improvement, simplification and standardisation of the testing methodology have enabled it to become more reliable and accessible to clinicians. ANCA has strong association with and is most useful in the diagnosis and management of the ANCA-associated vasculitides which include Wegener's granulomatosis, microscopic polyarteritis, Churg-Strauss syndrome and primary pauci-immune necrotising and crescentic glomerulonephritis. ⋯ The antigen-specific solid-phase assays have comparable sensitivity with IIF assays and improved specificity in some instances. However, appropriate use of the ANCA test requires full knowledge of its capabilities and limitations, and the results should always be correlated with clinical data. In particular, it is important to understand that it is not only test sensitivity and specificity, but patient selection that contributes to the positive predictive value and clinical relevance of the test result.
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Ann Acad Med Singap · Jan 1998
Case ReportsMusculoskeletal pain clinic in Singapore--sacroiliac joint somatic dysfunction as cause of buttock pain.
Buttock pain was a predominant symptom in a series of patients seen with recalcitrant "backache" in the author's pain clinic which has a musculoskeletal emphasis. Assessment suggested the sacroiliac joint as the culprit pain generator and patients underwent confirmatory testing which included fluoroscopy-guided intra-articular injections of lignocaine and steroid along with combined therapeutic modalities of oral analgesics, physical therapy, manual medicine techniques and ergonomic assessments. Two case reports illustrate this condition which is probably under-recognised and inadequately addressed locally.