Description

Test delayed appearance of the Rheumatoid Factor (RF); it is more frequently present in chronic active phase of the disease than in the early or in the sub –clinic chronic phases of Rheumatoid Arthritis. RF is also found in many cases of other autoimmune diseases like systemic lupus erhematosus(SLE), scleroderma and sjogren’s syndrome, weakly positive by the latex test for Rheumatoid Factor has occasionally been observed in some of patients with Hepatitis, sarcoidosis, cirrhosis,of liver, syphilis hyper gamma globlinemia, acute bacterial and viral infections. It is almost always absent in cases of Rheumatoid fever. It is suggestive that CCP can be useful in diagnosing early RA. An elevated CCP can be found in a significant number of patients who have a negative RF, the classic test for RA, and therefore can help to make a diagnosis. 95% of patients with a positive CCP will develop RA in the future