Endocrine Abstracts

Objective: The concentration of GH (hGH) is important in the attribution of hGH therapy, for which in The Netherlands a national committee is responsible. Without this authorization re-imbursement is impossible. Therapy is permitted if all hGH concentrations after two stimulation tests are below 20 mU/l and in some clinical conditions independent of hGH. However, different assays produce different results and nationwide hGH results varied with CV ~30%. Consequently, authorizat...

Objective: Macroprolactinaemia is the phenomenon of forming immunoglobulins (Igs) against prolactin (PRL). The Ig–PRL complex has an increased half-life resulting in elevated levels of immunoreactivity in most PRL immunoassays without having any significance. Identifying macroprolactinaemia-induced hyperprolactinaemia is essential in order to prevent unnecessary testing and treatment. This study is to establish the combined intra- and inter-individual variability in macro...

Introduction: ACTH is measured to confirm impairments in the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis. Patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC) can have ectopic adrenocorticotropic secretion. In December 2009, a SCLC patient showed an enormous discrepancy between the ACTH results obtained with two different ACTH assays. The aim of this study was to compare different ACTH assays in SCLC patients.Methods: In a pilot study EDTA plasma samples of nin...