[Laboratory thyroid disease diagnosis--interdisciplinary cooperation. International consensus in Swedish perspective]

In 2003, The National Academy of Clinical Biochemistry published a consensus monograph on thyroid tests (available via Internet from 2002). The document, a result of international collaboration, describes the pathophysiological background and clinical application of the measurements as well as principles for their technical performance. Of value, and of definite clinical relevance, is the detailed description of factors affecting the results in health and disease. However, we lack a description of the sometimes large differences in values obtained with different generally available methods, as well as a presentation of the occurrence and evaluation of analytical interference and related technical factors affecting results. Readers with little experience from quantitative measurement in the clinical laboratory, therefore, are not stimulated to obtain a better understanding of causes and evaluation of unexpected results.