Glucagon - plasma
Last updated: Monday, 22, March, 2004
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| Item | Process |
|---|---|
| Specimen | The patient should fast overnight; 5 mL blood in special EDTA/trasylol tube, collected on melting ice and delivered immediately to the laboratory. |
| Method | Immunoasssay. |
| Reference Interval | 25-250 µg/L. |
| Application | Diagnosis of functional glucagonoma, in patients with diabetes mellitus and other suggestive features eg, necrolytic migratory erythema, diarrhoea, weight loss and glossitis. |
| Interpretation | The test lacks specificity, with elevated glucagon levels occuring in acute illness and in patients with diabetes mellitus who do not have a functional glucagonoma. The diagnosis of a functional glucagonoma requires appropriate clinical features (as above), the presence of a pancreatic tumour and hyperglucagonaemia. Many glucagonomas are non-functional. |
| Reference | Tomassetti P et al. Ann Oncol. 2001; 12 Suppl 2: 95-99. |