Can I use EDTA anticoagulated blood to perform the ESR test?
Yes, but if you are performing the Westergren method test as do most people today, you still need to make the one in five dilution (i.e. four parts blood added to one part diluent) that was used with the original technique because only liquid citrate was available at that time as an anticoagulant. The diluent you use can be normal saline or trisodium citrate at a concentration of between 0.10 to 0.136 mol/litre. – see ICSH. recommendations, Journal of Clinical Pathology, 1993; 46: 198 – 203.
