Anti-Neutrophil Cytoplasmic Antibody (ANCA)

Anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA) testing has revolutionized the diagnosis and treatment of the various autoimmune mediated vasculitides. Anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA) testing has revolutionized the diagnosis and treatment of the various autoimmune mediated vasculitides.  The perinuclear ANCA (pANCA) and cytoplasmic ANCA (cANCA) have proven to be useful clinically to aid in the diagnosis of small vessel vasculitides such as granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA), formerly known as Wegener’s granulomatosis (WG), idiopathic necrotizing crescentic glomerulonephritis, microscopic polyangiitis (MPA) and Churg-Strauss syndrome (CSS). Additionally, ANCA can be found in other diseases such as polyarteritis nodosa, Goodpasture’s syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease.