Synonyms

Clinical Indications

Exclusion of Familial Benign Hypercalcaemia (FBH) in patients with suspected primary hyperthyroidism (PHPTH). FBH is a condition which can be mistaken for PHPTH because of some common clinical and biochemical features. In contrast with PHPTH, treatment of FBH by parathyroidectomy almost never results in normalisation of serum calcium and surgery is therefore contra-indicated.

Request Form

Combined Pathology Blood form (Yellow/Black)

Availability

On request. A patient information leaflet is available.

Specific Criteria

Patient should have demonstrated hypercalcaemia. PTH is usually normal or slightly raised.

Patient Preparation

Patient must fast overnight (10 hours)

Turnaround Time

Same day

Specimen

Fasting serum and 2^nd void fasting urine.

Volume

2 ml serum and 5ml urine

Container

Yellow top (SST) tube (serum) and white capped universal container (urine)

Causes for Rejection

Unlabelled samples. Patient not fasting.

Reference Range

Urine excretion is low in FBH. At a cut-off of 22 umol/lL glomerular filtrate, sensitivity for the diagnosis of FBH is 95% and specificity 92%.