[Evaluation of HDL-C determination methods]

ABSTRACT

Following confirmation of the role of HDL-C role in cardiovascular disease, its measurement has become a fixed requirement by physicians. Today serum HDL-C is measured using different methods from simple outdated precipitation methods to the latest of homogenous assays used for HDL-C determination. However, the precision, accuracy and performance, standardization, and evaluation for those methods are controversial. This paper briefly discusses the methodology of various HDL-C determination methods e.g ultra centrifugation, electrophoresis, precipitation and homogenous assays, and advantages of homogenous methods. Human expertise, time consuming and high cost instrumentation of ultra centrifugation, quantitative electrophoresis, nuclear magnetic resonance and chromatographic methods are key factors that make the methods undesirable for clinical laboratories. Precipitation and manual separation steps of non homogenous HDL-C determination methods, reduces their precision, and causes them to be replaced by more precise methods such as homogenous assays; however more time is needed for their costs to be more competitive