[Usefulness of Polyethylene-Glycol Precipitation As a Screening Method for Macroprolactinemia].

Abstract

Macroprolactin is mostly a complex of monomeric prolactin (PRL) with IgG and considered to be biological inactive. Its presence commonly leads to diagnostic confusion and misdiagnosis. Polyethylene-glycol (PEG) precipitation method is widely used for a screening of macroprolactinemia. We applied PEG precipi- tation method for 200 samples which was ordered test of PRL. The PRL recovery was 65.0±11.2% (mean ±SD). In our data, PRL recovery less than 42.5% (mean-2SD) indicates the presence of macroprolactin. The prevalence of macroprolactinemia was 4.5%(9/197) in total samples and 9.5%(2/21) in hyperprolac- tinemia. Our result indicates the need for PEG screening for macroprolactinemia to avoid misdiagnosis. [Short Communication].