Medical Lab Tests
by Sha_Tur on 03/18/02 at 23:51:13

???  Can someone please help me!  Scared and Worried Doctor is not reading my results correctly.  

I am suspected of having a Pheochromocytoma (adrenal tumor) and they are very very rare.  Only a few doctors are really familiar with testing and I am getting some very conflicting information from medical journals, the Pheo Web Site, and from people who also have this disease.   I am seeing a Endo who I am beginning to realize is not that familiar with Pheos by his comments and remarks.  I recently did a 24 hour Urine test to check for Catecholomines (adrenaline hormones) and was told to turn it in to my local lab since UC Davis is a 2 hour drive for me one way.  Anyways this lab had to make a bunch of phone calls because they were not sure the protocol for the test procedures and how to ship it to main lab or even what the test was for.  

The lab results I see online and in the Medical testing sites for this test are always measured in  nmol/d  which I believe may be nanograms - mol=amount of a substance and /d = deciliter.      This lab used mcg/L as its measurements.  I believe this is micrograms/Liter.  I may be wrong about the above but I would like to know if you can Convert my result for a very high level of ephinephrine of 115.0 mcg/L to nmol/d.  My Endo said that increased levels would be in the 1000's and if he isn't sure which is the correct protocol of measurement for this test  (from my calculations) and lab results were posted as they should have been in  nmol/d  then my results would be 1,500.0 not 115.0.  

I am scared because I have horrible symptoms, some of them are high blood pressure, profuse sweating, severe headaches, and if it is a pheo I could have a stroke or Heart attack.  I have been told by others with pheos in the online support group to find a doctor familiar with the treatment of this disease that this doctor dosen't know what he is talking about.  

Am I correct in my conversion of mnol/d results and if so I do need to find a doctor that knows how to treat this rare disease and isn't reading what to do out of the medical journals.  Thank you so much for your help in advance.  He has drug out having me do two Urine tests and has done nothing else  to help me for 2 1/2 months.

This doctor also said that 115.0 is slightly above normal.  Well that would be true if he was assuming the lab ran the results in nmol/d but the normal results for mcg/L are only .05 = 20.0 which is obviously almost 6X's above high normal and not just slightly elevated.  I have a copy in my hand that was faxed to me by my lab.

Thanking you so much in advance,  if I am right you are saving me lots of wasted time and being ill seeing a doctor who does not know how to treat this disease.  I want to move on if this lab report was read wrong and get the needed medical attention I really need.

Convert  115.0 mcg/L to nmol/d

Sharon Turner

Re: Medical Lab Tests
by Robert Fogt on 03/19/02 at 11:22:08

"nmol/d" stands for "nanomoles per day". The "d" does not stand for deciliter, that is "dL"

Another unit would be "g/24h" or "gram per 24 hours"

I don't think you can convert mcg/L to nmol/d. If you can it would be a substance specific conversion.

You might try calling a pharmacist.  They deal a lot more with converting things than doctors and may be able to help you.  I would just grab your information and take it to a drug store and ask to speak with the head phamrmacist.

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