The patient is a 46 year old male who presented on 12-7-02 with a painful purple big toe. He also had pain in his right forearm and hand in an ulnar distribution, and noted that his fingers, turned white in the cold. They became very numb and then improved on rewarming.

His past medical history was significant for a two year history of abdominal pain which was believed to be caused by his gall bladder but after cholecystectomy the symptoms persisted. The pain was constant, dull and made worse with eating. He was diagnosed with ischemic bowel disease and referred to surgery. A 12" segment of small bowel was resected with placement of a gastro-jejunostomy tube. Pathology of the bowel could not determine the etiology of the ischemia. A biopsy of his kidney showed arteriosclerosis and glomerulosclerosis with no immunologic staining patterns.

2. What tests would you want to get?

3. What does an elevated sedimentation rate mean?