How to Test Endomysial IgG

The endomysium is a loose sheath of connective tissue that surrounds and separates the individual muscle fibers contained within the fascicles that form skeletal muscles. Immunoglobulin G (IgG) is one of the five classes of antibodies manufactured by plasma cells in response to the presence of any substance that causes an immune reaction. Such substances are called antigens or immunogens. The presence of anti-endomysial IgG antibodies is indicative of conditions including pemphigus, dermatitis herpetiformis and celiac disease.

Things You'll Need

• Non-sterile gloves
• Tourniquet
• Cotton balls
• Alcohol or povidone/iodine wipes
• Sterile needle
• Tube (plain, red top) for sample collection
• Label for tube
• Sterile bandage

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Instructions

• 1

  Gather the equipment you will need to draw the blood for a test to screen for anti-endomysial IgG antibodies. Confirm the identity of the patient to ensure that you will be testing the right person.

• 2

  Clean your hands carefully with soap and water or an alcohol no-rinse hand sanitizer. Put on your non-sterile gloves.

• 3

  Wrap the tourniquet tightly around the arm from which you will be drawing the blood. Instruct the patient to make a fist with the hand on that arm. Watch for veins to rise closer to the skin surface.

• 4

  Select the vein into which you will insert the needle. Align the needle with the vein and with the beveled part of the tip upward, and puncture the vein. Push the opening in the rubber top of the collection tube onto the end of the vacutainer holder and allow the blood to flow into the tube. Remove the tourniquet.

• 5

  Draw 3 mL of blood, remove tube, and then remove the needle. Instruct the patient to press a cotton ball over the injection site until you apply the bandage. Label the tube and take it to the appropriate laboratory for analysis.