Whats the process and why does a blood hormone test take so long?

Question

It takes something like a week of working days -so that works out at 9 days due to weekends.

Also whats the process of testing the blood for hormones -like what do they do?

Answer 1

I am in the UK but the process will be similar everywhere. The process is this:

Depending on where you went to have your blood taken, the sample might have to be transported quite a distance to the lab. It won't be transported immediately - it will probably wait around for while. Then you have to add on the transport time which may be hours.

At the lab, someone decides what tests to do and enters the details into a computer system (or this might be done automatically by computer). This might take a few minutes or an hour or more depending on the lab. The sample is then taken to the right area of the lab (or an automated track might take it). Depending how unusual the test is, it might be analysed immediately, some time that day, or the next day. Unusual tests tend to get batched and run once per week. A lot of work goes into making sure a test can be done every single day - there is calibration, quality control, reagent management, and sometimes it just isn't worth the time and cost involved if you only get a couple of samples a day.

The actual test itself will almost always be done on an automated analyser and will take 15 minutes - 1 hour. Some very unusual hormones will be measured in a more manual way and might take a few hours. ('Radioimmunoassay' is old-fashioned and now rarely used). The hormone will be detected by using an antibody that binds only to that hormone. Then you remove everything that hasn't stuck to the antibody. The antibody with the hormone bound to it will be detectable in some way so that you can tell how much is there, e.g. the antibody might be modified to be fluorescent (release light that can be measured).

Then the result is ready! Where I work we have good transport links and hormone results are usually available the same day and often within a few hours of being collected. However, we don't release the result until an expert has looked at it and interpreted it - that can take another 24 hours but might be the most important step as most doctors aren't very confident interpreting complex hormone results.

The reason your doctor tells you the result isn't ready for a week is

1) they might have to wait for the results to be delivered by post, and to be filed in the correct record (where I work this doesn't apply as most doctors receive the results electronically).

2) if they make an appointment for you in a week you might feel better by then anyway!

3) it takes them a while to get around to looking at all of the results on their patients and to think about what it means and what they want to do next.

Answer 2

Depending on the hormone and/or the lab doing the test, it is usually measured by something called an RIA or radioimmune assay.  The only reason it takes so long is because of the backlog of samples the lab has to run.  In theory, it should only take a few hours from start to finish.