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Measurement of free triiodothyronine in intensive care patients--comparison of two routine methods
1Institut für Klinische Chemie, Klinikum Grosshadern, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany.
One hundred sera from intensive care patients, and 93 sera from endocrinological outpatients were used for a comparison between two automated assays for free triiodothyronine (Enzymun Test, and Elecsys 2010, both Boehringer Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany). In outpatients a good correlation between both methods was found (r = 0.932). In contrast, comparability between the two assays was poor in intensive care patients (r = 0.75, after exclusion of two outliers); significantly more values in the hypothyroid range were found with the Elecsys 2010 assay (n = 83, compared with n = 33 with the Enzymun Test; chi 2 test p = 0.001). We conclude that routine measurement of free triiodothyronine which has the theoretical advantage of quantifying the biologically active fraction of thyroid hormones may have methodological limitations in severely ill patients.
One hundred sera from intensive care patients, and 93 sera from endocrinological outpatients were used for a comparison between two automated assays for free triiodothyronine (Enzymun Test, and Elecsys 2010, both Boehringer Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany). In outpatients a good correlation between both methods was found (r = 0.932). In contrast, comparability between the two assays was poor in intensive care patients (r = 0.75, after exclusion of two outliers); significantly more values in the hypothyroid range were found with the Elecsys 2010 assay (n = 83, compared with n = 33 with the Enzymun Test; chi 2 test p = 0.001). We conclude that routine measurement of free triiodothyronine which has the theoretical advantage of quantifying the biologically active fraction of thyroid hormones may have methodological limitations in severely ill patients.