Hyperhomocysteinemia, a biochemical tool for differentiating ischemic and nonischemic central retinal vein occlusion during the early acute phase.

PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to differentiate ischemic central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO) from nonischemic CRVO during the early acute phase using plasma homocysteine as a biochemical marker. METHODS: Fasting plasma homocysteine, serum vitamin B12, and folate levels were measured in 108 consecutive unilateral elderly adult (age >50 years) ischemic CRVO patients in the absence of local and systemic disease and compared with a total of 144 age and sex matched nonischemic CRVO patients and 120 age and sex matched healthy control subjects. RESULTS: Homocysteine level was significantly increased in the patients with ischemic CRVO in comparison with nonischemic CRVO patients (p = 0.009) and also in comparison with control subjects (p < 0.001). Analysis also showed that hyperhomocysteinemia was associated with increased incidence of ischemic CRVO (odds ratio, 18) than that for nonischemic CRVO (odds ratio, 4.5). Serum vitamin B12 and folate levels were significantly lower (p < 0.001) in CRVO patients compared to the control but were not significantly different between nonischemic and ischemic CRVO patients (p > 0.1). CONCLUSIONS: Hyperhomocysteinemia can be regarded as useful in differentiating nonischemic and ischemic CRVO during the early acute phase in absence of local and systemic disease in the elderly adult (age >50 years) population.

Establishment of reference interval of serum prolactin in an Indian population.

BACKGROUND: Reference data on serum prolactin levels based on a representative Indian sample are still lacking. The western normative laboratory values used for clinical diagnosis may not be applicable to Indian population. The objective of the study was to measure the serum prolactin levels in healthy Indian male and female in order to establish reference interval and to compare with the available reference intervals. It is a cross- sectional study done in West Bengal, India. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Based on the history, clinical examination and laboratory investigations, serum prolactin levels of 1316 apparently healthy subjects were estimated by microplate immunoenzymometric assay using pooled serum. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software. RESULTS: The serum prolactin levels for all ages were 10.7 ± 3 ng/ml in healthy male and 11.6 ± 2.8 ng/ml in healthy female. Decade-wise analysis of serum prolactin level in female showed a steady increase from 20-29 years to advancing decades until 4(th) decade and thereafter declines steadily although it was not same for male. CONCLUSION: Our study will help each laboratory to formulate their own reference interval for prolactin. As of now they were dependent either on the values written on the kit-literature supplied by the reagent manufacturing company or the reference intervals of foreign population.