Serum Testosterone Assays—Accuracy Matters
Abstract
By its very nature, endocrinology is a specialty that relies on sharp and comprehensive clinical and investigative skills and particularly on accurate, precise, sensitive, and reliable measurements of circulating hormone concentrations. With the realization that manifestations of endocrine disease may be subtle and affected by comorbid illness, medications, aging, and other factors that cloud clinical diagnosis, rugged and robust hormone assays are especially important to the clinician. Even in the presence of obvious classical manifestations of endocrine disease, reliable laboratory studies are needed to confirm the diagnosis. Serum testosterone (T) assays play an important role in the clinical evaluation of a number of very common endocrine disorders. In males, T assays are used primarily to confirm the diagnosis of hypogonadism, and also to evaluate boys with delayed or precocious puberty and monitor the adequacy of T therapy. Because the clinical manifestations of androgen deficiency are nonspecific, the presence of low serum T levels in men with symptoms and findings consistent with androgen deficiency confirms the diagnosis of hypogonadism. In females, T assays are used in the evaluation of hyperandrogenism (e.g. idiopathic hirsutism, congenital adrenal hyperplasia, polycystic ovarian syndrome, and androgen-secreting ovarian or adrenal tumors), and more recently, to diagnose androgen deficiency. The very low circulating T concentrations in boys and females (over an orde…
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LC-MS/MS provides a more accurate measuring method for total T than immunoassays.
“On the other hand, LC–MS/MS provides a more accurate measuring method for total T [39, 211].”
From Role of sex hormone-binding globulin in the free hormone hypothesis and the relevance of free testosterone in androgen physiology (2022) · cites this paper as [211]
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- Authors
- Matsumoto, A. M., & Bremner, W. J.
- Affiliations
- University of Washington (US)
- Venue
- The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism
- Publisher
- The Endocrine Society
- Published
- 2004-02
- Volume
- 89
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 520-524
- ISSN
- 0021-972X (ISSN-L)
- 1945-7197
- OpenAlex
- W2005966256
- Cited by
- 217
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 14
- FWCI
- 12.28
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Hormonal and reproductive studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Clinical Laboratory Practices and Quality Control
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Adrenal Hormones and Disorders
- Keywords
- serum testosterone, assay precision, immunoassay interference, free testosterone, total testosterone, hypogonadism diagnosis, androgen deficiency, hyperandrogenism, automated immunoassay, immunoassay standardization
- MeSH terms
- Chromatography, Liquid, Humans, Immunoassay, Male, Mass Spectrometry, Testosterone
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