Diagnostic specificity of anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA) in otorhinolaryngological diseases.

The incidence and titer of ANCA were examined with 871 sera from patients with otorhinolaryngological diseases at our hospital. The cytoplasmic pattern of ANCA (c-ANCA) whose titer was more than 16 was detected only in the sera of patients with Wegener's granulomatosis (WG). The incidence of c-ANCA in active WG was more than 90%. The perinuclear staining pattern of ANCA (p-ANCA) was detected in almost 40% of patients with Sjögren's syndrome, 2.0% of inflammatory diseases and 1.0% of tumorous diseases. A high diagnostic value of c-ANCA in WG was found in patients with otorhinolaryngological diseases.