[Noninvasive methods to monitor the production of hormone]

Noninvasive method to screen for endogeneous hormone production is useful to diagnose hormone excess/deficiency, especially in children. There are currently some optimal test to diagnose, and these tests(for example, urinary GH, urinary cortisol, urinary cathecolamine...) has been widely used. Traditional 24-hour urine or midnight serum cortisol values may be difficult to obtain or elevated by venipuncture stress. Salivary cortisol measurement has been reported as a reliable way to screen for adrenocortical function. We tried to detect salivary cortisol level with drug loading test(Dexamethasone for Cushing syndrome, and ACTH for adrenal insufficiency) with time interval. Salivary cortisol measurement with drug loading test rules out both Cushing syndrome and adrenal insufficiency in nearly all cases. Salivary cortisol sampling is thus a simple, accurate way to screen for adrenocortical function.