Prolactin
(PRL)

Sample type

Serum(preffered)

Plasma(lithium heparin)

Uses

-evaluation of pituitary tumors, amenorrhea, galactorrhea, infertility, and hypogonadism.

-Monitoring therapy of prolactin-producing tumors.

Precautions

If the patient taking any biotin supplements he should be to stop biotin consumption at least 8 hours prior to the collection of a sample.

Interfering factors

-Normal prolactin secretion varies with time, which results in serum prolactin levels two to three times higher at night than during the day.

-The biologic half-life of prolactin is approximately 20–50 minutes. Serum prolactin levels during the menstrual cycle are variable and commonly exhibit slight elevations during the mid-cycle.

-Prolactin levels in normal individuals tend to rise in response to physiologic stimuli including sleep, exercise, nipple stimulation, sexual intercourse, hypoglycemia, pregnancy,and surgical stress.

-Taking biotin supplements.

-using EDTA anticoagulant tube

-hemolysis sample

-turbidity sample

-Lipemic or icteric samples

Pre-analytical errors

1-Hemolyzed, turbidity, icteric,mislabeled or unlabeled specimens

2- If the samples is grossly lipemic after centrifugate it

3-The patient is taking biotin supplements

4-The patient’s history has not been taken carefully and therefore there is information that needs to know and is not available.

The corrective actions

1-The sample should be rejected and another sample requested.

2-If you centrifuge the sample again, and the sample remains lipemic, it should be rejected and another sample requested.

3-Do not collect the sample and ask the patient to stop taking biotin supplements for 8 hours.

4-You must communicate with the patient and know all the informations you need. And next time, the history of the patient should be taken carefully.

Post-analytical errors

1-Writing a wrong result or wrong name in the report

2-If the patient’s gender is written wrong in the report, the reference range was written incorrectly

3-report were sent to incorrect patient

The corrective action

1-If the report is not delivered to the patient and this error is discovered, the correct result or the correct name must be written, but if the report is delivered to the patient, you must communicate with the patient, apologise to him, and tell him that an error has occurred and replace it with the correct report.

2-If the report is not delivered to the patient and this error is discovered, fix it, but if the report is delivered to the patient, apologise to him, tell him that an error has occurred, and replace it with the correct report. And next time, Be careful when you write down the gender and reference range.

3-Communicate with patient ,apologizing for the error, and providing him with the correct report

Reference range

Males: 2.64–13.13 μg/L

Females <50 years (premenopausal): 3.34–26.72 μg/L

Females >50 years (postmenopausal): 2.74–19.64 μg/L