Diagnostic tests for thyroid antibodies: A comparison of the precipitin and latex-fixation (Hyland TA ) tests

The clinical significance of thyroid antibodies is discussed and it is concluded that, of the antibody tests which have been extensively applied, the precipitin test is the most useful for diagnostic purposes. The recently introduced Hyland TA test is compared with the precipitin test. The TA test g...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of clinical pathology 1962-09, Vol.15 (5), p.462-471
Main Authors: Anderson, J. R., Buchanan, W. W., Goudie, R. B., Gray, K. G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Antibodies
Diagnostic Tests, Routine
Hashimoto Disease
Histological Techniques
Humans
Latex
Old Medline
Precipitin Tests
Precipitins
Thyroglobulin
Thyroid Gland
Thyroiditis
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The clinical significance of thyroid antibodies is discussed and it is concluded that, of the antibody tests which have been extensively applied, the precipitin test is the most useful for diagnostic purposes. The recently introduced Hyland TA test is compared with the precipitin test. The TA test gives a rapid result and is slightly more sensitive, but it remains undecided whether a true positive result is always indicative of clinically important degrees of chronic thyroiditis. The TA test also gives occasional false positive results, not indicative of antibody to thyroglobulin. Furthermore, approximately 12% of precipitin-positive sera from patients with Hashimoto's disease give negative TA tests, and since these also have low titres, or are negative, in the tanned red cell haemagglutination test, the precipitin test is the only simple method of demonstrating the antibody concerned. In spite of these disadvantages, the TA test is regarded as a useful procedure, and there are advantages in using both the precipitin and TA tests together for routine diagnostic purposes. A modification is described whereby the TA test reagent may be used to titrate antibody to thyroglobulin.
ISSN:0021-9746
1472-4146
DOI:10.1136/jcp.15.5.462