Clinical endocrinology and hormones quantitation: the increasing role of mass spectrometry.

Clinical endocrinology and hormones quantitation: the increasing role of mass spectrometry. Minerva Endocrinol. 2017 Oct 27;: Authors: D'Aurizio F, Cantù M Abstract Clinical endocrinology has always had a close relationship with laboratory medicine. In fact, the quantification of hormones is of great importance for diagnosis, treatment, recurrence and patient's prognosis of endocrine disorders. This review dealt with the role of the laboratory in diagnosing endocrine pathologies related to adrenal gland, pituitary, gonads and thyroid. The measurements of the main hormones (17- hydroxyprogesterone, androstenedione, dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate, testosterone, estradiol, cortisol, aldosterone, metanephrines, thyroglobulin and insulin-like-growth factor-1) were described considering analytical characteristics but also some aspects of pre-analytical and post- analytical steps. Traditionally, hormonal quantification is performed with immunoassays (IMAs), which have several advantages (i.e. limited training of technicians, high throughput, widely spread worldwide), but also some limitations on the accuracy of the results due mainly to cross-reactivity of IMA antibodies (i.e. steroid measurements) and protein interferences (i.e. heterophilic antibodies, antithyroglobulin antibodies in Tg measurements, etc). In order to meet the need for clinicians to obtain ever more accurate results from laboratories, in recent decades, mass spectrometr...
Source: Minerva Endocrinologica - Category: Endocrinology Tags: Minerva Endocrinol Source Type: research