Steroid hormones are dynamic. Throughout the day they are produced, utilized by tissues, metabolized, concentrated, and excreted in urine. Understanding endocrine physiology requires more than a single measurement. It requires assessment of hormone production, metabolism, and excretion over time.
Blood, individual urine specimens, multiple timed urine collections (often dried), and complete 24-hour urine collections each answer different clinical questions. A complete 24-hour urine collection integrates normal biologic variation over an entire day while directly measuring total daily hormone and metabolite excretion. It also provides a larger and more representative specimen for laboratory analysis, supporting more sensitive and reproducible measurement across a broad range of biomarkers, including low-abundance hormones and metabolites not accessible from blood.
Rather than replacing other specimen types, a complete 24-hour urine collection complements them by answering a different question: How much hormone was produced, how was it metabolized, and how much was excreted over the course of an entire day?
At Meridian Valley Laboratory, we believe in using the right test for the right clinical question. PRISM24™ and PACE24™ leverage the unique strengths of complete 24-hour urine collection to provide meaningful insight into endocrine physiology while addressing different clinical needs.