Ideally 5 full EDTA tubes should be collected to ensure there is sufficient sample to send to the UK for the full Hammersmith Gut Hormone Screen to be tested.
Only samples from the Department of Endocrinology, Greenlane are accepted for Hammersmith Gut Hormone screening
(For more information contact the Department of Endocrinology, Greenlane - phone: 09 3074949 ext. 26850)
Medical staff must not request a Hammersmith gut hormone screen without first consulting an endocrinologist, neuroendocrine surgeon or medical oncologist.
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Requests for Hammersmith Gut Hormone screen MUST have "Hammersmith" written on the request form
Patient preparation:
- The patient must fast overnight, but should have a normal intake of fluids, and report to the Department of Endocrinology, Greenlane Clinical Centre, at 09:00h. Medications: PPIs (e.g. omeprazole) must be stopped for 2 weeks, and H2 blockers for 72h before the blood is taken, if gastrin is to be interpretable.
- All patients must have their bloods taken by the Dept. of Endocrinology. A special procedure for specimen preparation has to be followed, including special tubes for freeze drying. For patients from outside Auckland who are unable to do this, please contact the Labplus on-call chemical pathologist via Lablink (09-307-8995) before collecting any specimens.
- A covering letter from the requesting doctor, which should include patient details, is required to accompany the specimen to the Hammersmith Hospital laboratory, UK.
- Specimens will be sent to SAS laboratories, Charring Cross Hospital, London after being freeze dried
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Samples must be separated and frozen within 15 minutes of collection and not be allowed to thaw
- Place the gently inverted tubes into an ice slurry and transport to the GLCC laboratory immediately
Paediatric Specimens
When collecting small samples from infants, please specify which hormone is of the greatest importance.
0.4mL plasma is required for a single hormone request.
1. Investigation of watery diarrhoea
Request the following tests individually:
- Gastrin ( ZE syndrome)
- Calcitonin, CEA (medullary thyroid carcinoma)
- VIP ( vipoma)
- urine 5HIAA (metastatic carcinoid tumour)
For specimens for these assays, see under the specific hormone.
In this context, there is little or no extra diagnostic sensitivity obtained by requesting the Hammersmith gut hormone screen. Measurement of CGA on its own has little diagnostic utility unless a person has some identified diagnosis such as a known NET or an MEN1 syndrome.
2. Hammersmith gut hormone screen
Specimens for the Hammersmith gut hormone screen must be taken off at the Department of Endocrinology, Greenlane Clinical Centre.
The Hammersmith gut hormone screen includes the following hormones:
- VIP (vasoactive intestinal peptide)
- PP (pancreatic polypeptide)
- gastrin
- glucagon
- Somatostatin (SRIF)
- CART (cocaine and amphetamine regulated transcript)
- chromogranin A
- chromogranin B (GAWK fragment)
Medical staff must not request a Hammersmith gut hormone screen without first consulting an endocrinologist, neuroendocrine surgeon or medical oncologist.
Emails to chemicalpathologist@adhb.govt.nz will receive priority attention from the on-call chemical pathologist.
If the query concerns a specific patient please include the NHI number in your email.
If email is not a suitable option, please contact the on-call chemical pathologist via Lablink (Auckland City Hospital ext. 22000 or 09-3078995).
Individual chemical pathologists may be contacted but will not be available at all times.
After-hours : contact Lablink (Auckland City Hospital ext. 22000 or 09-3078995) or hospital operator for on duty staff after hours.
Dr Samarina Musaad (Clinical Lead) : SamarinaM@adhb.govt.nz ext. 22402
Dr Cam Kyle: CampbellK@adhb.govt.nz ext 22052
Dr Weldon Chiu: WeldonC@adhb.govt.nz ext. 23427
Dr Campbell Heron: CHeron@adhb.govt.nz ext. 23427
Dr Sakunthala Jayasinghe: Sakunthala@adhb.govt.nz ext. 23427