Roche method anyone?

[Slumberparty]

I have just had my blood tested using the Roche method. Is this the most accurate test for the thyroid please?

[shaws Administrator]

I assume you are in the USA. As far as I know we don't yet use it in the UK. I have also read on the link below it is for diagnosing diabetes?

pmlive.com/pharma_news/us_f...

[Slumberparty in reply to shaws]

No, I`m in the UK and it was ordered by an Endo for Thyroid tests. Weird.

[shaws Administrator in reply to Slumberparty]

Hopefully someone will have information on it.

[diogenes Remembering]

The Roche analytical method is of course fully automated. For thyroid, we found the manufacturer recommended TSH range was too wide (at the low end). From a personal point of view, I don't think the Roche methods are the most accurate. For FT4 and FT3 certainly, the Ortho Vitros ECi tests are best. The problem is that most manufacturers have made rather a pig's ear of developing accurate FT4 and especially FT3 tests and some have just automated original tests that themselves weren't very good. Eg the Siemens methods. There has been an awful lot of "buying in" tests originally made earlier by smaller companies, without really knowing what they are in fact getting. It's rather a mess I'm afraid, but slow steps are being put in hand to put right at least TSH and FT4 tests so they all read the same. FT3 is still Cinderella.

[Slumberparty in reply to diogenes]

Thanks Diogenes.

My TSH levels are all over the place with different methods.

Beckman platform 74

Heterophile Blocking 7.97

Roche method 0.01

[diogenes Remembering]

From your very different results with different methods, I would say that you possess some antibodies in your blood which directly interfere with some of the tests for TSH. For example, if you possess anti-mouse antibodies and the test schedule is based on using TSH-anti-mouse antibodies supplied in the test method, you'll get horrible interference and nonsense numbers depending on exactly how the test method works. People can have all kinds of such antibodies in their blood - it causes no harm but can interfere with certain tests at random.

[Slumberparty in reply to diogenes]

The first 2 results were from the same days blood. It`s strange how the first test has always given numbers around 7, but suddenly started giving crazy highs.

This is all very well of course. Now I don`t know if my thyroid is ok or not. I am reducing my dose of thyroxine as per my GPs instructions.

[faith63 in reply to Slumberparty]

Dr. Lowe and others feel that you should not dose by labs, but by symptoms..they just don't correlate..especially TSH.