lab question

[redhed87]

Hi,
I went to my endo. yesterday to discuss my year follow up.  He ordered my tg level supressed but the lab messed up and did my antithyroglobulin AB instead.  He didn't want that and didn't even talk about the number.  what does that mean.  It was <20 the range was 0-40.  

[nissah46]

Did you ask about an appeal on the coverage of thyrogen? I did, and they ended up covering 50%. I feel for you if not. I take my thyrogen April 20 and 21.My scan is April 25. Ypurs must be around then is it?

[redhed87]

THanks.  I am going off my thyroid meds next monday for 4 weeks- insurance doesn't cover thyrogen- so I am sucking it up.  He will repeat Tg test then.  Not looking forward to being hypo again.  

[whittie918]

Nothing to add but that I've been lurking and waiting to see how your checkup was.  

[kitty9309]

Your antibodies are normal.

Is the doctor re-ordering the Tg as he originally intended? I hope so.

[AR-10]

For the purposes of cancer detection, which I assume is why your doc is checking your TG, a measure of TGab is useless. You could have no thyroid tissue in your whole body, and still have measurable TGab.

A low TGab is encouraging, but the fact that your TGab is still measurable should not be a concern.

[AR-10]

antithyroglobulin (TGab) is one type of thyroid antibody. Less than 20 is good for you, as it means you do not have those antibodies in a quantity high enough to diagnose you with an auto-immune disease.

You may have other antibodies, but your TGab is low.

He was looking for a measure of your thyroglobulin, which is a different thing.