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ACTH

I had blood drawn today, about 5 vials is that normal for hormone testing?  Also the tech said the ACTH has to be drawn between 7am and 10am and I went at 11:45am.  Will this affect my results?
My mri showed either a microadenoma or a cyst.  This is what i knew before the pituitary specific mri, thought i'd get more info from this one (the other was just of the brain).  
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Avatar universal
If you had ACTH - did you also have cortisol? That is also very time dependent so going at 11:45 is not a good time - 8am is the best draw time and being fasting as well is what you want.

Hormone testing is tricky and you have to be careful to do it on time and well - otherwise it is not worth doing it that day.

I usually get 5 to more tubes each time I go!
Helpful - 0
596605 tn?1369946627
Hiya
Yeah, 5 tubes is about the norm And yes the time might affect the results. Some of your numbers might come up lower than than they would if done earlier.

ACTH is a finicky lab already, in that it has be put into chilled purple tubes and spun right away as it degrades really fast. It is one of those tests that the labs get wrong all the time just because.  8 am is the magic time for most of the hormones to get drawn, because they are pulsatile and are a little higher in the morning. This is if you follow a normal type sleep/work schedule and not shift work.

...so you could maybe call the lab and have them toss yours before they send them on. FYI, some of the lab tests are quite costly and it might be hard to get your doc to reorder them.
Good luck!
Horselip
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