A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ERYTHROCYTE SEDIMENTATION RATE (ESR) USING SODIUM CITRATE AND EDTA

Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR) is a marker for inflammation in the body. It is the initial test carried out in order to detect infection using Westergren tube in which blood is mixed with sodium citrate as an anticoagulant. A study was performed using blood from various patients with two different anticoagulants among which one was sodium citrate, commonly used and an alternative to this was Ethylene Diamine Tetra Acetic acid (EDTA). In order to minimise the volume of withdrawal of blood from patients the study of ESR was undertaken with an anticoagulant such as EDTA which is used for Complete Blood Count (CBC) test also. Twenty two blood samples were collected from out- patients. The values of ESR using EDTA showed 4-6 mm less than that of sodium citrate. Thus looking at the results obtained in this comparative study, ESR can be performed using EDTA blood instead of sodium citrate. This utilises only limited amount of blood.