Guest guest Posted March 12, 2008 Report Share Posted March 12, 2008 Does anyone have info on what labs should be run to look for PANDAS please? Sincerely, Juarez, M.S., Marriage and Family Therapist Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 12, 2008 Report Share Posted March 12, 2008 Technically labs cannot identify PANDAS - there has to be several episodes w/an increase in OCD and tics that appears to be directly associated with a preceding strep infection. The only labs are throat culture (or in-office rapid strep w/a follow-up culture if negative) and an ASO titer (anti-streptolysin enzyme). ASO titers are usually much higher than typical (way over 200, closer to 500 and up), and they don't go down rapidly over a few months - they may even climb. BUT they can be positive that way even in normal people right after a recent strep infection, so they need to be monitored over a year + to determine if they're dropping the way they should (assuming they're not retriggered by another strep infection). Also Natural Killer cells can be pretty low (tested in an immune panel of lymphocytes) but again, whether they are or are not does not determine a diagnosis, as even 2% - which Dr G calls low - is still technically within normal limits. Another common finding is iron-deficient anemia (also present in many of our kids), especially a year into PANDAS, that doesn't resolve easily on iron supplements. It could be an anemia of chronic immune activation/inflammation. I think the most important thing about PANDAS is the fact that an immune reaction to an infection is capable of inducing neurological and psychiatric illness. HTH- --11- and Sal Juarez <jamieandsal@...> wrote: > Does anyone have info on what labs should be run to > look for PANDAS please? > > Sincerely, > Juarez, M.S., Marriage and Family Therapist > ________________________________________________________________________________\ ____ Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Search. http://tools.search./newsearch/category.php?category=shopping Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 12, 2008 Report Share Posted March 12, 2008 Pull ASO titers and the AntiDNAse-B. PANDAS is not an issue with the strep itself, it's the antibodies. Overproduction of the antibodies is what causes the autoimmune issue. You also have to have behavioral characteristics to be dx'd with PANDAS. I think the only reason it's suggested to pull a culture is to make sure there isn't a current case of strep, as that would skew the results. cheryl On Mar 12, 2008, at 7:34 PM, wrote: > Technically labs cannot identify PANDAS - there has to > be several episodes w/an increase in OCD and tics that > appears to be directly associated with a preceding > strep infection. > > The only labs are throat culture (or in-office rapid > strep w/a follow-up culture if negative) and an ASO > titer (anti-streptolysin enzyme). ASO titers are > usually much higher than typical (way over 200, closer > to 500 and up), and they don't go down rapidly over a > few months - they may even climb. BUT they can be > positive that way even in normal people right after a > recent strep infection, so they need to be monitored > over a year + to determine if they're dropping the way > they should (assuming they're not retriggered by > another strep infection). Also Natural Killer cells > can be pretty low (tested in an immune panel of > lymphocytes) but again, whether they are or are not > does not determine a diagnosis, as even 2% - which Dr > G calls low - is still technically within normal > limits. Another common finding is iron-deficient > anemia (also present in many of our kids), especially > a year into PANDAS, that doesn't resolve easily on > iron supplements. It could be an anemia of chronic > immune activation/inflammation. > > I think the most important thing about PANDAS is the > fact that an immune reaction to an infection is > capable of inducing neurological and psychiatric > illness. > > HTH- > > > --11- and Sal Juarez <jamieandsal@...> > wrote: > > > Does anyone have info on what labs should be run to > > look for PANDAS please? > > > > Sincerely, > > Juarez, M.S., Marriage and Family Therapist > > > > __________________________________________________________ > Looking for last minute shopping deals? > Find them fast with Search. http://tools.search./ > newsearch/category.php?category=shopping > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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