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What does a high ESR level indicate?

Dr SK Sood
Senior Consultant Haematologist,
Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi

Q: What happens if ESR is above 20 in a persons body. Please inform me about it corectly. Whether I have to take any medicine or not. What are the dos and don'ts. Please help me.

A:ESR is measured by two procedures - Westergren and Wintrobe. Westergren techniques is better. The normal values for the two procedures are different. Normal ranges also differ with age and physiological status. A high ESR indicates presence of some inflammatory process in the body and should be interpreted along with the symptoms and signs. There is no medication for elevated ESR. It returns to normal when the primary disease and NBS ameliorates. The information provided is inadequate. Even the exact value is not mentioned. Therefore, further comment is not possible.