Performance of LC-MS/MS and immunoassay based 24-h urine free cortisol in the diagnosis of Cushing's syndrome

Oßwald, Andrea; Wang, Rong; Beuschlein, Felix; Hartmann, Michaela F; Wudy, Stefan A; Bidlingmaier, Martin; Zopp, Stephanie; Reincke, Martin; Ritzel, Katrin

doi:10.1016/j.jsbmb.2019.04.004

Citations

Citation copied

Oßwald, A., Wang, R., Beuschlein, F., Hartmann, M. F., Wudy, S. A., Bidlingmaier, M., Zopp, S., Reincke, M., & Ritzel, K. (2019). Performance of LC-MS/MS and immunoassay based 24-h urine free cortisol in the diagnosis of Cushing’s syndrome. Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 190, 193–197. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsbmb.2019.04.004

Abstract

24-h urine free cortisol (UFC) is an indicator of integrated cortisol secretion and established screening tool for Cushing's syndrome (CS). Doubts have been raised regarding specificity of immunoassays, and mass spectrometric techniques have been proposed as an alternative. In the present study we compared diagnostic accuracy of UFC measured with LC-MS/MS vs. immunoassay in patient with CS and patients where CS has been excluded. We examined 24-h urine samples from patients with surgically confirmed CS (n = 77; Cushing's disease (n =