[Significance of a new PTH assay (the comparison between whole-PTH and intact-PTH assay)].

It has been shown that intact-PTH assay measures not only full-length biologically active PTH with 84 amino acids, but also some PTH fragments such as (7-84) PTH. Whole-PTH assay is a new method believed to react only with (1-84) PTH. Because circulatory concentrations of various fragments of PTH are very high especially in patients with secondary hyperparathyroidism associated with renal failure, evaluation of PTH levels by whole-PTH assay seems to be useful for accurate assessment of parathyroid function in these patients.