Inflammation in your body is a response to disease, injury, or invasion by a foreign body, such as germs and chemicals. Although this is a normal and important process that allows your body to heal, it is not good to have recurring or recurring inflammation. According to experts, if inflammation occurs in healthy tissues or persists for too long, it can harm you, leading to cancer, cardiovascular problems, liver damage and many other fatal diseases.

Inflammation affects many parts of your body that you cannot see. The inflammatory reactions that happen behind the scenes can help you heal, but sometimes, they can harm your health. And so, when you have inflammation, you will notice discoloration or redness of the skin, pain and tenderness, swelling, skin that feels hot to the touch, and an inability to use that part of your body normally. .

What are the signs of inflammation?

According to experts, inflammatory markers are blood tests used by doctors to detect inflammation in the body, including infections, auto-immune conditions, and cancer. The most commonly used inflammation markers are:

Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) test

Also known as SED rate, ESR is a blood test that detects the development of an inflammatory disorder.

Doctors say it’s found through routine blood tests, through which inflammatory conditions cause cells to stick together, causing them to become denser and organize faster than individual cells. Given that the ESR test measures how far red blood cells fall into the tube within an hour, expressed in millimeters per hour, a higher value indicates a more significant immune system response to inflammation.

A normal result is considered to be 20 mm/hour or less, while a reading of more than 100 mm/hour is considered significantly elevated.

C-reactive protein

The C-reactive protein (CRP) test detects elevated levels of the protein concentration in your blood. Once in the bloodstream, CRP attaches to damaged tissue or microbes and marks them so they can be removed by the immune system.

The test is designed to measure CRP levels below 10 mg/liter, which is not possible with regular CRP testing. This makes it a useful tool for detecting systemic, low-grade inflammation.

interleukin-6 test

Interleukin-6 or IL-6 has both anti-inflammatory and pro-inflammatory properties and is important for your immune system to function properly. IL-6 promotes bone breakdown and reduces exercise-induced inflammation. Furthermore, it also plays an important role in the progression of acute to chronic inflammation and triggers the release of CRP from liver cells, thereby perpetuating the inflammatory cycle.

Cytokines are microscopic proteins that facilitate communication between immune cells and are important in coordinating the immune response to injury and infection.

fibrinogen test

Fibrinogen is a blood protein that becomes activated by the thrombin enzyme to help blood clot. It is also important for the formation of new blood vessels and healing of damaged tissues. Similar to CRP, fibrinogen increases in response to inflammation and has the ability to activate various immune cells.

Fibrinogen is recommended to diagnose or rule out bleeding or blood clotting disorders. In some cases, a fibrinogen test may also be performed to gather more information about the risk of any cardiovascular inflammation, which can lead to heart attack and stroke.

ferritin test

The ferritin protein stores iron and ensures that your body has enough iron to use for your overall health and well-being. A ferritin test is usually requested to determine if you are suffering from anemia or low iron levels.

When inflammation increases due to pathogens such as viruses and bacteria, ferritin levels also increase. Ferritin can also leak into the bloodstream when cells are injured, causing levels to increase.

Get the latest news live on Times Now with breaking news and top headlines from around the world.