What is a T4 test and it's cost?!


Question: What is a T4 test and it's cost?
It was administered to my cat, "Total T4", cost $30 and "T4 Free by ED", cost $80. Seems a bit high.

Answers:

Hello,

Hmm, I only really know about this in humans : )

In humans, T4 is one of the two types of thyroid hormone in the blood, the other is called T3. The thyroid hormones are the ones which stimulate the metabolic rate, that is to say they stimulate the speed the body "lives" at.

Someone who has too much thyroid hormone is over-excited, over-energetic, and loses weight, that is called "hyper- thyroidism" or "Graves Disease."

Someone who has too little thyroid hormone is slow, (mentally and physically), gains weight, and has a low body temperature. That is called "hypo- thyroidism" or "myxoedema," pronounced mix - ed - DEE" - muh.

In humans, it is not enough to measure the T4, - you need to measure what is called the "TSH" as well. The brain controls how active the thyroid gland is, using a hormone called TSH or "thyroid stimulating hormone." In humans,you don't know whether it's the thyroid gland mis-behaving off its own bat, - or whether the brain is telling the thyroid gland to misbehave, - without measuring the TSH level in the blood, too.

"Free T4" means the amount of T4 loose in the blood; and "total T4" also includes the amount of T4 bound to proteins in the blood. I'm not sure what the ED stands for, - it will be the laboratory technique, - I will try and find out, - oh, it stands for the "equilibrium dialysis" technique.

I imagine your cat is under- active or over-active, or is losing or gaining weight, - we don't know why he/she had this test. Probably the hormone control system is similar in a cat, to how it works in humans. I don't know if thyroid disease is a problem in cats, - - I will try and find out, - -

Yes, it seems it is, see here, (click) http://cats.about.com/od/thyroiddiseasei…

I should have given you enough technical language to understand the answers there, - - you need to remember that in medical language, "hypo- " means, "too little of..." and "hyper- " means, "too much of." - - Confusingly similar, I know. You can use the terms in other contexts, - - let's see, - - in a money context, hyper- loaded might mean you are very rich, and hypo- loaded might mean you are poor. <g> You might be hyper- handsome or hypo- handsome.

I hope this is of some help. I can't comment on veterinary costs in America, but I doubt the basic test actually costs more than $ 10 for the Lab to do.

Best wishes,

Belliger
retired uk gp




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