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The University of Chicago Medicine Laboratories

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Mayo Clinic Laboratories

Test Code TSH Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH)

Important Note

This test may be affected by biotin interference. Patients on high dose biotin (5mg/day or more) should not have samples drawn until at least 24 hours after the last biotin administration

Additional Codes

TSHS

Specimen and Container/Tube

Specimen Type: Serum

Preferred Specimen: Red Top

Other Acceptable specimens: Serum/Gold Top, Plasma/Li-Heparin Mint Green Top, Plasma/Lavendar K2 Top, Plasma/Lavendar K3 Top

Volume

Preferred Volume: 0.5 mL

Minimum Volume: 0.2 mL

Specimen Stability

Storage Temperature

Stability

Room temperature

8 days

Refrigerated

14 days

Frozen

24 months

Collection Instructions

Collect specimen per standard laboratory collection procedures. 

 

Specimen Handling and Transport Instructions

UCMC Onsite Instructions: 

Collect specimen per standard collection procedure and send to laboratory immediately. 

 

UCMC Offsite and UC MedLab Outreach Instructions: 

  • Samples should be centrifuged within 2 hours of collection.
  • Centrifuge specimens at >2500 x g for 10 minutes at room temperature.
  • Aliquot sample into plastic transport tube containing a minimum of 0.2 mL of specimen.
  • Samples must be sent room temperature at 15-25oC.

Rejection Criteria

  • Common specimen rejected situations include: incorrect specimen type, insufficient volume, missing or incomplete specimen identifiers, incorrect specimen transport, or specimens outside stability limits. 
  • Specimens that are clotted or grossly hemolyzed.
  • Specimens that were transported unspun/whole blood and draw time is greater than 6 hours.

Reference Values

 

Test

Age

Sex

Reference Range
TSH 0 - 5 days ALL 0.7 - 15.2 uIU/mL
TSH 6 days - 2 months ALL 0.7 - 11.0 uIU/mL
TSH 3 - 11 months ALL 0.7 - 8.1 uIU/mL
TSH 1 - 5 years ALL 0.7 - 6.0 uIU/mL
TSH 6 - 10 years ALL 0.6 - 4.8 uIU/mL
TSH 11 - 18 years ALL 0.5 - 4.3 uIU/mL
TSH >18 years ALL 0.3 - 4.0 uIU/mL

Critical Values

Not applicable 

Turnaround Time

Turnaround times are relative to the time the specimen is received in the test laboratory. 

 

STAT Turnaround Time: 1 hour

Routine Turnaround Time: 4 hours

Testing Schedule: 24/7

Clinical Indications

TSH serves as the initial test in thyroid diagnostics.

Test Components

TSH

Methodology

Electrochemiluminescence immunoassay (ECLIA)

CPT Codes

84443

LOINC Codes

3016-3

Synonyms/Keyword Search

Thyrotropin, TSH-3

Additional Information

  • Results should always be assessed in conjunction with patient's medical history, clinical examination and other findings.
  • The presence of autoantibodies may induce high molecular weight complexes (macro-TSH) which may cause unexpected high values of TSH.

Last Review Date

7/19/2024