Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2020 Jan 30:13:2.
doi: 10.1186/s13044-020-0076-y. eCollection 2020.

Falsely undetectable TSH in a euthyroid patient

Monireh Rahimkhani  1 , Kiana Kazemian  2 , Rashid Ramezani Daryasari  2
Affiliations
Case Reports

Falsely undetectable TSH in a euthyroid patient

Monireh Rahimkhani et al. Thyroid Res. .

Abstract

Background: Measuring thyroid hormone levels is essential and helpful in the diagnosis of thyroid diseases.

Case presentation: We had a patient with undetectable serum TSH level by the Siemens immunoassay, whereas by ELISA and Roche-Abott immunoassay, serum level of TSH was in the normal range.

Conclusion: If the result of TSH level revealed very low or undetectable through one specific method, it should not be considered necessarily as a symptom of hyperthyroidism. It is to be requested to measure by the other methods with other devices too.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interestsThe authors declare that they have no competing interests.

References

    1. Edith T, Starich GH, Mazzaferri EL. Sensitivity, specificity, and cost effectiveness of the sensitive thyrotropin assay in the diagnosis of thyroid disease in ambulatory patients. Arch Intern Med. 1989;149(3):526–532. doi: 10.1001/archinte.1989.00390030032006. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Piketty ML, Polak M, Flechtner I, Gonzales Briceno L, Souberbielle JC. False biochemichal diagnosis of hyperthyroidism in streptavidin-biotin-based immunoassays: the problem of biotin intake and related interferences. Clin Chem Lab Med. 2017;55(6):780–788. doi: 10.1515/cclm-2016-0606. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Mogolu S, Armston AE, Mozley E, Nasruddin A. Heterophilic antibody interference affecting multiple hormone assays: is it due to rheumatoid factor? Scand J Clin Lab Invest. 2016;76(3):240–242. doi: 10.3109/00365513.2016.1143113. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Favresse J, Burlacu MC, Maiter D, Gruson D. Interferences with thyroid function immunoassays: clinical implications and detection algorithm. Endocr Rev. 2018;39(5):830–850. doi: 10.1210/er.2018-00119. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ismail AA, Walker L, Barth H, Lewandowski C, Jones R, Burr A. Wrong biochemistry results: two case reports and observational study in 5310 patients on potentially misleading thyroid-stimulating hormone and gonadotropin immunoassay results. J Clin Chem. 2002;48(11):2023–2029. doi: 10.1093/clinchem/48.11.2023. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources