Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR)
Velocidad de sedimentación globular
- Date
- 1897 · confidence high
- Place
- Warsaw, Poland
- Credited to
- Edmund Biernacki
- Field
- Life & health
What was discovered
Polish pathologist Biernacki observed that the rate at which red blood cells settle in a tube of unclotted blood varies with the patient's inflammatory state, and proposed measuring it as a simple diagnostic test. The test, known in Poland as "Biernacki's reaction", is still used today to detect inflammation and infection.
What it led to
- Routine clinical blood tests
- Diagnosis of inflammatory and rheumatic diseases
Built on
- Quantitative haematology