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Collection Requirements

Serum only: 500ul is required

Paired Serum and CSF: 500ul of serum and 500uL of CSF is required  CSF should not be ordered alone

Tube Colour

Gold blood tube for serum, Sterile CSF container for CSF

Test image(s)

Requires own tube?

No

Department

Biochemistry

Reference Interval

See report

Availability

Monthly

Reference Laboratory

Westmead ICPMR - Central Specimen Reception, NSW Health Pathology, Level 2, Block I Westmead Hospital, Westmead Hospital, Cnr Darcy and Hawkesbury Roads, Westmead, NSW 2145

Fee

Serum $90 out of pocket. CSF no charge (research only)

Notes

MOG antibody testing guidelines:

SERUM  Serum is the preferred sample for MOG antibody testing and MOGAD diagnosis is based on serum testing (Banwell et al, 2023). Serum can be tested in isolation (without a paired CSF).

CSF (PAIRED WITH SERUM)  As general guideline, CSF testing is not needed for MOGAD diagnosis and is less sensitive than serum testing, e.g. ~50% of  MOG-IgG-seropositive MOGAD patients are positive in CSF (Reynolds et al, 2024). 

CSF-ONLY WILL NOT BE TESTED. This is to prevent false positivity. If you wish to test MOG antibody in CSF, please collect serum on the same date or within maximum 1 week of CSF collection, and send both samples for testing.

Serum MOG Ab testing is performed at NSW HP-ICPMR by flow cytometry live CBA (Siwan et al, 2025). This test is NATA accredited and incurs an out of pocket fee of $90.00.

CSF testing is performed in the Brain Autoimmunity Lab, Kids Neuroscience Centre, Children’s Hospital at Westmead, Sydney by flow cytometry live CBA. This test is not NATA accredited. There is no fee for the CSF test. 

Please direct CSF test and result inquiries to Fabienne (Fabienne.brilot@sydney.edu.au), office phone:  02 9845 1456, cell phone: 0431 378 927. Email is preferred.

Please direct serum result inquiries to David McDonal (david.mcdonald2@health.nsw.gov.au)

Test code: MOGAB

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