Serum thyroglobulin:

a model of immunoassay imperfection Serum thyroglobulin is used to monitor and follow-up treatment of differentiated thyroid carcinomas. Available serum thyroglobulin assays are fraught with problems inherent to any immunometric detection system. This review summarises the clinical utility of serum thy-roglobulin as a tumour marker, the problems associated with immunoassays for tumour marker detection and quantitation, and potential solutions to some of these problems. by Dr A. Hoofnagle and Dr M. H. Wener Thyroid nodules have a prevalence of approxi-mately 4%. Fortunately, only 1 in 1,000 of these turns out to be malignant. A diagnosis of thy-roid carcinoma is made using fine needle aspi-ration biopsy and radioactive iodine uptake scanning. Indeterminate cases require exci-sional biopsy for definitive diagnosis. Roughly half of patients diagnosed with thyroid cance