INTACT PARATHYROID-HORMONE IMMUNORADIOMETRIC ASSAYS .2. EVALUATING 2 COMMERCIAL KITS FOR ROUTINE CLINICAL USE

The recent development of immunoradiometric assays (IRMA) for the dete ction of human intact parathyroid hormone (PTH) in serum has led to th e diagnosis of disorders of the parathyroid glands. We evaluated the a nalytical performance of two commercial IRMA kits for the detection of intact PTH in serum by assessing the following performance characteri stics: imprecision, parallelism, and range of linearity. We also asses sed analytical sensitivity in order to validate the reportable range f or patient sample results. We compared the PTH concentration in 90 ser um samples measured by two IRMA kits in our laboratory with those obta ined on the same samples assayed by one of the commercial IRMA kits at a reference laboratory. The acceptable performance and excellent corr elations demonstrated that either commercial IRMA kit for intact PTH w ould be suitable for routine use in a clinical laboratory. This articl e is the final installment in a two-part series on PTH. The first arti cle focused on the measurement and clinical use of PTH.