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Test Code PROLAC Prolactin II,LAB531

Performing Laboratory

St. Luke's Hospital Laboratory

Specimen Requirements

Container/Tube:

Preferred: Green top (lithium heparin)

Acceptable: Gold-top serum gel tube, plain, red-top tube, or EDTA plasma

Specimen: 0.5 mL

Minimum volume: 0.006 mL plus dead volume

 

Stability:

  • Room temperature:  5 days (Samples on the analyzer should be analyzed within 2 hrs)
  • Refrigeration (2°- 8°C):  14 days
  • Frozen (≤ -20°C): 6 months. Freeze samples only once and mix thoroughly after thawing.

 

Transport Temperature: Refrigerated

Reference Values

Tanner Stage/Age

Male ng/mL

Female ng/mL

I

≤10.0

3.6 – 12.0

II – III

≤6.1

2.6 – 18.0

IV – V

2.8 – 11.0

3.2 – 20.0

≥18 years

2.1 – 17.7

*See Table Below

 

Females >12 years

ng/mL

Pregnant 3rd Trimester

95.0 – 473.0

Day(s) Test Set Up

Monday-Sunday

 

Useful For

Consistently elevated serum prolactin levels greater than 30 ng/mL in the absence of pregnancy and postpartum lactation are indicative of hyperprolactinemia, which is the most common hypothalamic-pituitary dysfunction encountered in clinical endocrinology.  Hyperprolactinemia often results in galactorrhea, amenorrhea, and infertility in females, and in impotence and hypogonadism in males. Renal failure, hypothyroidism, and prolactin secreting pituitary adenomas are also common causes of abnormally elevated prolactin levels.

Methodology

Immunoenzymatic Chemiluminescent Assay

Test Classification and CPT Coding

84146

Report Available

Stat within 1 hr of receipt

Routine within 2 hrs of receipt