Guest guest Posted December 12, 2005 Report Share Posted December 12, 2005 Here is an excerpt from an article about TSH. You can read it in its entirety here: http://thyroid.about.com/od/gettestedanddiagnosed/a/tshtestwars.htm Right now, a battle is waging in the endocrinology community regarding the so-called " reference range " for the Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) test. The importance of this controversy cannot be underestimated. The majority of practitioners -- including endocrinologists, the physicians who specialize in thyroid disease -- rely solely on the TSH test as the primary test, the supposed " gold standard " in fact, for diagnosing and managing most thyroid conditions. There is ongoing controversy about whether reliance on the TSH test -- to the exclusion of clinical symptoms and other tests such as Free T4, Free T3, and antibodies tests -- is medically sound. That is a controversy that is unlikely to be decided for years. The situation today, however, is that the majority of physicians do rely almost exclusively on the TSH test to detect thyroid disease, and monitor the effectiveness of treatment. Surprisingly, however, while the medical community does rely on the TSH test, there is complete disagreement within the community as to what constitutes the " normal range. " Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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