Urinary Corticoid Concentrations Measured by 5 Different Immunoassays and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry in Healthy Dogs and Dogs with Hypercortisolism at Home and in the Hospital.

Background Determination of the urinary corticoid-to-creatinine ratio ( UCCR) is an important screening test in the diagnosis of hypercortisolism ( HC). However, urinary cortisol metabolites interfere with cortisol measurement in immunoassays, leading to decreased specificity. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry ( GC- MS) is considered the gold standard for steroid hormone analysis, because it provides a high level of selectivity and accuracy. Objectives To prospectively compare the UCCR of healthy dogs and dogs with HC determined by 5 different immunoassays and by GC- MS and to evaluate the influence of veterinary care on UCCR. Animals Twenty healthy dogs; 18 dogs with HC. Methods Urine was collected in the hospital and again after 6 days at home. Three chemiluminescence immunoassays (Access 2, Beckmann; Immulite 2000, DPC Siemens, with and without trichloromethane extraction) and 2 RIAs (Utrecht in house; Access Beckmann) were used. GC- MS analyses were performed with Agilent 6890N/5973N. Urinary corticoid concentrations were related to urinary creatinine concentrations. Results Immunoassay results were significantly higher compared to GC- MS results. Evaluation of bias plots and clinical assessment made on the basis of the assay results of each dog indicated substantial disagreement among the assays. Sensitivity varied from 37.5 to 75% and with selected assays was lower in samples from day 6 compared to day 0. GC- MS was not superior to the immunoassays in discriminating healthy from HC dogs. Conclusions and Clinical Importance Considerable variation must be anticipated comparing different urinary cortisol assays. Establishing an assay- and laboratory-specific reference range is critical when using UCCR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]