Endocrine Abstracts

Advances in instrument technology and automation have simplified tasks in laboratory diagnostics and improved the quality of test results. However, errors occurring during the preanalytical phase – from the time the test is ordered by the physician until the sample is ready for analysis – can account for up to 93% of the errors currently encountered during the total diagnostic process.The precision of analytical problems has been significantly ...

How do we distinguish normal from abnormal? Are reference ranges the ‘gold standard’? Who do they identify? Where have they come from? For clinical practice that is increasingly dictated by guidelines and consensus statements accurate reference ranges are key to safe practice. Using examples of, amongst others, growth hormone, thyroid stimulating hormone and parathyroid hormone this talk will highlight the need for greater collaboration between laboratories, physicia...

The scientific literature abounds with the reports of new hormones and related biomarkers and their preliminary application to clinical situations. A small proportion of such discoveries translate into service delivery because initial studies are not substantiated and/or the economics of commercial method development are not favourable. There is a spectrum of endocrine biomarker assay provision from research assay, to specialised service assay to routine service assay. In gene...

Interpretation of biochemical results may be heavily influenced by fasting status (e.g. triglycerides), sample obtained under basal conditions or pharmacologically stimulated (e.g. growth hormone), time of day (e.g. testosterone level in pubertal boy), age and pubertal status (e.g. IGF-1 level), stage of menstrual cycle (e.g. progesterone level), menopausal status (e.g. gonadotrophin levels), pregnancy (e.g. thyroid function tests), stress associated with sample collection (e....