Detection of moderate hyperhomocysteinemia: Comparison of the Abbott fluorescence polarization immunoassay with the Bio-Rad and SBD-F high-performance liquid chromatographic assays

The importance of accurate methods for homocysteine measurement has been em phasized. We compared the results obtained with the most commonly used high -performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) assay, and two recently commercia lly available methods: another HPLC and a fluorescence polarization immunoa ssay, in plasmas from normo- or hyper-homocysteinemic patients. A significa nt agreement between the different methods in classifying the results as hy per or normal-homocysteinemia was observed. However, a significant differen ce between the results was found. Standardization is urgently necessary to improve the concordance of homocysteine determination.