Total bilirubin assay differences may cause inconsistent treatment decisions in neonatal hyperbilirubinaemia.

Objectives: To assess interlaboratory variability of total serum bilirubin (TSB) results in newborns. Initiated following a clinical incident in which a neonate was transferred to a tertiary hospital for treatment of severe hyperbilirubinemia but on arrival was reclassified into a lower risk category due to a 20% difference in TSB between laboratories.

Methods: Fresh residual plasma samples from hospital-born infants were pooled to obtain 11 samples across a range of total bilirubin concentrations.

Familial dysalbuminaemic hyperthyroxinaemia: a rapid and novel mass spectrometry approach to diagnosis.

Background: Familial dysalbuminaemic hyperthyroxinaemia is an important cause of discordant thyroid function test results (due to an inherited albumin variant); however, the diagnosis can be challenging. A 51-year-old man had persistently elevated free thyroxine (T4), with discordant normal thyroid-stimulating hormone and normal free triiodothyronine. He was clinically euthyroid and had a daughter with similar thyroid function test results.

Falsely elevated plasma selenium due to gadolinium contrast interference: a novel solution to a preanalytical problem.

Background: Trace elements are commonly measured by inductively coupled mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). A 30-year-old man had a plasma selenium (Se) concentration on ICP-MS of 66 µmol/L (reference interval 0.45-1.