At a glance
| Analyte | Thyroid stimulating hormone |
|---|---|
| Also called | Thyrotropin, Thyroid function test, TFT |
| Method | Two-site sandwich chemiluminescence immunoassay |
| Sample type | Serum, Plasma |
| Panel | Thyroid |
| Discipline | CLIA immunoassay |
| Brand | Mindray |
What TSH measures
Thyroid stimulating hormone is produced by the anterior pituitary and instructs the thyroid how much hormone to make. The pituitary responds to very small changes in circulating thyroid hormone, so TSH moves earlier and further than the thyroid hormones themselves, which is why laboratories run it as the first-line test rather than as a confirmatory one. In primary thyroid disease TSH and the thyroid hormones move in opposite directions: an underactive gland drives TSH up, an overactive one suppresses it. Disease of the pituitary or hypothalamus breaks that inverse relationship, which is exactly why TSH is interpreted alongside FT4 rather than on its own. Reference intervals differ between methods and populations, and each laboratory establishes and verifies its own before reporting.
How Philippine laboratories run it
Most requests reach the bench as a thyroid panel: TSH first, with FT4 added or reflexed when TSH falls outside the laboratory interval, and FT3 added when hyperthyroidism is the question. Endocrinology and obstetric clinics generate steady volume, since thyroid function is monitored through pregnancy and patients on levothyroxine or antithyroid therapy return on fixed intervals. That makes TSH one of the more forecastable immunoassay lines, which is what a reagent schedule is built on. Congenital hypothyroidism is covered by the Philippine newborn screening programme, but that runs on dried blood spots at a screening centre rather than on a laboratory immunoassay analyzer, so it does not feed this line.
Analyzers it runs on
Calibrator, controls and companion tests
Delivered with the control material it is verified against and the rest of the thyroid panel, on the same schedule as TSH.
Storage and handling
Refrigerated, upright, and not frozen.
Buying TSH in the Philippines
TSH is supplied for the CL-2600i and CL-900i. We deliver it with Thyroid Control and FT4, because a run held up waiting on a separate order costs the same shift a stock-out does. Delivery is scheduled against your monthly TSH count, so the bench is not rationing tests in the last week of the month. How we plan clia immunoassay supply.
Questions about TSH
Can we run TSH, FT4 and FT3 from the same tube?
Yes. All three are serum or plasma assays on the same CL analyzer, and the CL-900i is random access, so a full thyroid panel is one specimen and one loading. The analyzer draws each aliquot itself. This is the main practical argument for bringing thyroid testing in house rather than referring it out.
Do we need a separate calibrator for TSH?
Yes. Each assay is calibrated against its own Mindray calibrator, and controls are then run to your quality control policy to prove the calibration held. The thyroid control covers the whole panel, so one control material serves TSH, FT3, FT4, T3 and T4 while the calibrators remain assay-specific. Every TSH schedule Framar sets up includes both.
Order TSH
Tell us your monthly TSH volume and we will quote a supply schedule for CL-2600i. We reply within one business day.
Request a quotation