ASMA (Anti Smooth Muscle Antibody):
Why Anti-Smooth muscle Antibody test?
CLINICAL INFORMATION :
Anti-Smooth Muscle Antibody (ASMAs) or Actin Antibody or F-Actin Antibodyor Anti-cytoskeletal antibodies (Antibodiesagainstmicrotubules). ASMAs blood test checks for antibodies against several structural proteins in the smooth muscle, affecting the liver and other tissues. Hence the presence of ASMAs in the blood indicates the person may have auto-immune hepatitis or other diseases that could potentially damage the liver (liver cirrhosis) and its associated tissues such as primary biliary cholangitis – PBC (This PBC is confirmed by Anti-mitochondrial antibody test, antibodies against nucleoporin, nuclear pore complex ). Some of these symptoms include hepatomegaly (enlarged liver), liver fibrosis, abdominal swelling or distension causing abdominal discomfort, tenderness of the liver, dark urine, pale-colored stools, jaundice, itching, loss of appetite, nausea, and vomiting, etc. Additional tests for ASMAs include Anti-actin antibodies (AAA), Anti-soluble liver antigen/Liver Pancreas (Anti-SLA/LP) antibodies, and antibodies against liver sialoglycoprotein receptor (ASGP-R). Other related associated tests are antinuclear antibody tests, liver-kidney microsomal type-1 antibody (LKM-1 Antibody test is specifically performed for auto-immune hepatitis Type-2) tests, bilirubin levels for jaundice, Biochemical tests to confirm hypogammaglobulinemia or cryoglobulinemia with hypergammaglobulinemia and liver function tests. This ASMAs test is also indicative of infections like infective mononucleosis, hepatitis, asthma, acute viral hepatitis, malignant melanoma, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and certain cancers (carcinoma of the ovary). Some of the causes include drugs such as minocycline, nitrofurantoin, and statins, etc.
General instructions:
Sample Requirement: Specimen - Blood sample collected from the vein. Test Preparation: None.
NOTE - Sample for specimen collections may vary based on the patient’s condition/cases according to the patient’s presenting complaints/signs or symptoms:
SPECIMEN REQUIREMENT (Special or Rare Cases) - As instructed and guided by Physician / Clinician / Pathologist / as per Laboratory’s requirements, according to procedures and protocols.
This Multi-Specialty Clinical Referral Laboratory RTDIAGNOSTICS provides precise and accurate tests with an extensive range of testing services to the medical centers to help in the diagnosis and identification of pathology in the test specimens for infectious diseases and also to evaluate the function of organ systems of the patient. It prevents further complications and helps to stabilize and restore health to near normalcy at the earliest without delay.
