Guest guest Posted July 25, 2003 Report Share Posted July 25, 2003 Is it free T4 or is it FT4? TIA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 25, 2003 Report Share Posted July 25, 2003 Thanks, I had it as FT4. I am kind of confused because in the Stedman's abbrev. book FT4 is free thyroxine and T4 is thyroxine so why do you use free in front of T4? I am so new at some of this. Thanks for your help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 25, 2003 Report Share Posted July 25, 2003 My Stedman's Pathology and Lab Medicine Words shows Free T4 - but the 4 is actually subscripted. Carol in NC MedQuist Internal Medicine Local Account -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Abbreviation help Is it free T4 or is it FT4? TIA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 25, 2003 Report Share Posted July 25, 2003 hhhmmm.... now that I don't know!! I just learned it Free T4, so that's the way I type it, but verified it in Stedman's. I'll bet somebody else knows, though!!! Carol Re: Abbreviation help Thanks, I had it as FT4. I am kind of confused because in the Stedman's abbrev. book FT4 is free thyroxine and T4 is thyroxine so why do you use free in front of T4? I am so new at some of this. Thanks for your help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 25, 2003 Report Share Posted July 25, 2003 Thanks for all of your research. So I guess what you are saying is to just use free T4 and not FT4 unless it is dictated. I know that these should be subscript but my employer does not want me to use subscript. Thanks for all of your help. abb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 25, 2003 Report Share Posted July 25, 2003 Taber's online dictionary says: " thyroid function test: A test for evidence of increased or decreased thyroid function, including a clinical physical examination, which is usually reliable, and a variety of reliable laboratory tests. The most commonly used test to assess thyroid function is the measurement of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) with supersensitive assays. Usually, TSH levels are high in hypothyroidism and suppressed in hyperthyroidism, although in patients with pituitary masses this pattern may be reversed. Other thyroid function tests include measurements of free and total thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3), tests of thyroid-binding globulin levels, antithyroid antibody tests, and thyroid gland radioactive iodine uptake (RAIU) measurement. " I didn't research to see if free and total thyroxine are one thing are two things though. Maybe someone else would research that for us? Maybe the FT4 means " free AND total thyroxine. " ? Rennie www.renesue.com Re: Abbreviation help Thanks, I had it as FT4. I am kind of confused because in the Stedman's abbrev. book FT4 is free thyroxine and T4 is thyroxine so why do you use free in front of T4? I am so new at some of this. Thanks for your help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 25, 2003 Report Share Posted July 25, 2003 no, they are different measurements......fT4 ( " free " T4) is not the same as " total " T4......let me see if I can find a chart for you.....I deal with thyroid labs all of the time...... J ______________________________ Jaimy M-TEC Student AIM: Jaimy54 Yahoo: Jrzygirl1970 reply to: jaimy.mokos@... Re: Abbreviation help Taber's online dictionary says: " thyroid function test: A test for evidence of increased or decreased thyroid function, including a clinical physical examination, which is usually reliable, and a variety of reliable laboratory tests. The most commonly used test to assess thyroid function is the measurement of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) with supersensitive assays. Usually, TSH levels are high in hypothyroidism and suppressed in hyperthyroidism, although in patients with pituitary masses this pattern may be reversed. Other thyroid function tests include measurements of free and total thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3), tests of thyroid-binding globulin levels, antithyroid antibody tests, and thyroid gland radioactive iodine uptake (RAIU) measurement. " I didn't research to see if free and total thyroxine are one thing are two things though. Maybe someone else would research that for us? Maybe the FT4 means " free AND total thyroxine. " ? Rennie www.renesue.com Re: Abbreviation help Thanks, I had it as FT4. I am kind of confused because in the Stedman's abbrev. book FT4 is free thyroxine and T4 is thyroxine so why do you use free in front of T4? I am so new at some of this. Thanks for your help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 25, 2003 Report Share Posted July 25, 2003 Rennie, The F in FT4 is for free but the T is for thyroxine. Many times the FT4 is a calculation based on the T3 and T4 results because it is so difficult to measure accurately itself. It is sometimes also referred to as T7. You also might see FT4I with the I meaning index and that means it's a calculation similar to when you see INR with coag results. (All 4's are subscripted) Because this is one of those strange tests that can really vary depending on which methodology out of several different ones is used, I think I would transcribe exactly as dictated to avoid confusion for whoever reads the report. Sometimes the substance is actually measured and sometimes it is calculated from T3 and T4 and the name used can (not always) indicate to the doc which method was used which might be important diagnostic information to him. This info comes mostly from " Widmann's Clinical Interpretation of Laboratory Tests " . And no, you do not want to go out and by this for a reference! It is not really geared to MTs, just one of our texts from lab school. HTH! Sylvia Roller M-TEC Student - Session 5-6 gentlsong@... AIM: Jntlsong > Taber's online dictionary says: > " thyroid function test: > A test for evidence of increased or decreased thyroid function, > including a clinical physical examination, which is usually > reliable, and a variety of reliable laboratory tests. > The most commonly used test to assess thyroid function is the > measurement of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) with > supersensitive assays. Usually, TSH levels are high in > hypothyroidism and suppressed in hyperthyroidism, although in > patients with pituitary masses this pattern may be reversed. Other > thyroid function tests include measurements of free and total > thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3), tests of thyroid-binding > globulin levels, antithyroid antibody tests, and thyroid gland > radioactive iodine uptake (RAIU) measurement. " > I didn't research to see if free and total thyroxine are one thing > are two things though. Maybe someone else would research that for > us? Maybe the FT4 means " free AND total thyroxine. " ? > Rennie > www.renesue.com > Re: Abbreviation help > > Thanks, I had it as FT4. I am kind of confused because in the > Stedman's > abbrev. book FT4 is free thyroxine and T4 is thyroxine so why do > you use free in > front of T4? I am so new at some of this. Thanks for your help. > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 25, 2003 Report Share Posted July 25, 2003 That's what I think. Sylvia Roller M-TEC Student - Session 5-6 gentlsong@... AIM: Jntlsong > Thanks for all of your research. So I guess what you are saying is > to just > use free T4 and not FT4 unless it is dictated. I know that these > should be > subscript but my employer does not want me to use subscript. > Thanks for all of > your help. abb > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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