Post by magnetronnie on Mar 16, 2010 13:21:34 GMT -5
I talked with Sue on Twitter about her thyroid tests and I told her I did my graduation paper about this subject last year and that I would translate a few pieces for her, so here it is.
At the laboratory of the the hospital where I was doing my internship they wanted to setup a new test, because that was cheaper than sending it to another hospital like they did until last year. It was my job to set up the test and to validate it. That means that I run some test to make sure it's giving true and accurate results. It's health care after all, you can't afford to make any errors in the results.
It took me 6 months to write this article/report and to do all tests.
Validation of the TPOAb assay on the Access 2
June 2009
Summary
Problems with the thyroid are often caused by auto-immune diseases and are known for the presence of antibodies against the body's own tissues (called auto-antibodies) in the blood. One of the antigens that are targeted by these antibodies is thyroid peroxidase, an enzyme from within the thyroid and which plays an important role in the forming process of thyroid hormones.
Testing for the presence of auto-antibodies against thyroid peroxidase (TPOAb) can help to diagnose auto-immune diseases of the thyroid, for example Hashimoto's Disease. TPO antibodies are also found in other auto-immune diseases that are not thyroid related. Also the presence of TPOAb in the blood is a risk factor for various groups of people (pregnant women, persons with Down syndrome, etc.) to develop a hypothyroidism.
(the rest of the summary I can't share with you guys, because I'm not allowed to reveal hospital information)
Chapter 1.3 Auto-immune thyroditis
(..)
Some familiar auto-immune disease of the thyroid are:
- Hashimoto's disease
- Graves disease
- Primairy myxodema
- Postpartum thyroditis
(..)
Almost always destruction of the thyroid will cause hypothyroidism. Yet early in the disease a hyperthyroidism is also possible. This is caused by thyroid hormones leaking out of the destroyed cells of the thyroid. Hypothyroidism causes all kinds of "vague" symptoms in a person. The heart rate slows down, the person often is tired and feeling cold, there are concentration problems, the memory fails sometimes, and the face can start to swell. Also there can be problems with the voice and menstruation. All these problems are caused by a shortage of thyroid hormone in the blood, that causes the basal metabolism to slow down.
Even though TPO antibodies are known to cause thyroid damage, their level in the blood is no rate for the amount of damage to the thyroid. Also it's not clear why some people develop a hypothyroidism and others don't.
A mild, no noticeable form of auto-immunity against the thyroid is frequent in 5-15% of the Dutch population, more often in women and in the elderly. Women have a 2-3% change each year to develop a hypothyroidism.
(..)
Persons with other auto-immune diseases, such as Diabetes type 1, often have a higher level of thyroid antibodies in their blood. Persons with one auto-immune disease are known to more often develop another auto-immune disease.
There you go.
I hope that wasn't too hard 
If you have any questions just ask.
