[Comparative study of the diagnostic contribution of C-terminal and medio-regional determination of parathyroid hormone in man].

In this study, we compared serum parathyrin radioimmunoassay values obtained with three commercially available kits in a series of normal subjects, patients on dialysis, patients with primary hyperparathyroidism and with hypercalcemia due to malignancy. The calcium of these subjects was simultaneously evaluated. Two of these three kits measure two different C-terminal portions of the molecule and the third the mid region of PTH. The Behring and Byk kits were most efficient in that the results were obtained rapidly. The mid region assay is not more contributive than the C-terminal assays. Among these, the Behringer kit seems to produce the best diagnostic discrimination when the PTH and calcium are coupled. As far as the diagnostic specificity is considered, the latter kit seems however less efficient than the two others.