title: Differentiation of normal male prepuberty and hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism using an ultrasensitive luteinizing hormone assay.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess how the Delfia time-resolved immunofluorometric assay can most conveniently and economically be used to differentiate normal prepuberty from complete idiopathic hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism (IHH, Kallmann's syndrome).
  
  
  METHODS
  42 prepubertal boys aged 8.06-14.1 years and 11 adult male patients with IHH.
  
  
  METHODS
  Blood samples were withdrawn at 20-min intervals for 8 h from 23.00 to 07.00. Samples from the 6 h commencing 1 h after sleep onset were analysed for LH by Delfia.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean LH over this 6-hour period discriminated between IHH and normal prepuberty after the age of 12.5 years (no IHH subject > 0.31 U/l, no prepubertal subject < 0.33 U/l). The maximum hourly mean LH value for each subject gave a greater degree of mutual exclusivity (no IHH subject > 0.45 U/l, no prepubertal subject < 0.50 U/l).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Kallmann's syndrome patients can be distinguished from prepubertal boys aged 12.5 years or over by blood sampling every 20 min for 6 h, commencing 1 h after sleep onset. The pooling of these samples into six 1-hour samples and subsequent Delfia assay will yield six 1-hour mean LH concentrations for each subject. The highest of these six concentrations will give a value with mutual exclusivity between the two groups.
authors.affiliation: Department of Child Life and Health, University of Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: D C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: H F
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Stirling
authors.forename: G E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Butler
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Kelnar
authors.forename: F C
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D015200:Fluoroimmunoassay; D006801:Humans; D017436:Kallmann Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D007986:Luteinizing Hormone / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D011627:Puberty / Q000097:blood*; D012016:Reference Values; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D007986:Luteinizing Hormone