The cold agglutinins blood test refers to a test that is conducted mainly to point out those conditions that can cause the human body to develop some different set of antibodies known as the cold agglutinins. These antibodies usually develop in the human immune system as a reaction to or response to an infection. They can cause the red blood cells (RBC’s) to come and stick together or agglutinate at low temperatures. Healthy people usually have lower levels of the cold agglutinins present in the blood. However some infections like mycoplasma pneumonia or lymphoma, can lead to an increase in the levels of the agglutinins in the blood.
Cold agglutinins that are higher than the normal levels, do not normally lead to any kind of serious problem.
At times an increase in the levels of cold agglutinins in the blood can cause the blood to stick together in the blood vessels that are present just below the person’s skin. This would however happen when their skin is not protected or comes in contact with cold. This causes the skin to become pale while the hands and feet of the person will also get numb. These symptoms will go away once the skin starts to get a little warm. In some of the cases, the blood cells which are clumped can halt the blood flow to the person’s tips of theears, toes, fingers, and even the nose. Being similar to frostbite this condition can lead to tissue damage and in some cases this can lead to the formation of gangrene. Sometimes the increased levels of cold agglutinins in the blood can destroy the RBC’s that are present throughout the human body. This is a condition that is referred to as autoimmune hemolytic anemia.
The cold agglutinins test is normally done to check whether the high cold agglutinin levels present in the blood are leading to autoimmune hemolytic anemia. The test is also done to look for pneumonia that has been caused by the mycoplasma. More than half of the people suffering from pneumonia that has been caused by mycoplasma tend to develop a rise in the cold agglutinin levels in the blood within the same week of them being infected. Newer and more advanced tests for mycoplasma pneumonia have now replaced the previous cold agglutinins blood test. This test does not require any prior preparations to be done. When the doctor conducts the procedure for this test he will draw the patient’s blood. The cold agglutinins test that is performed on the blood is done to detect if there any antibodies present in blood that are in some way sensitive to temperature changes.