ZRT Laboratory Launches a New LCMS Saliva Profile to Expand Saliva Test Offerings
This new profile is designed for providers searching for a comprehensive look at their patients’ hormones.
December 12, 2019 (Beaverton, Ore.) - ZRT Laboratory is pleased to announce the launch of a new LCMS Saliva Steroid Profile to be added to the existing suite of saliva test offerings. While ZRT’s salivary hormone immunoassays continue to provide highly accurate results, there are some analytes that cannot be tested using this methodology because there are no available immunoassays. ZRT has therefore developed an assay using liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS, or LCMS). This profile tests a broad range of bioidentical hormones, ethinyl estradiol, and several synthetic hormone synthesis inhibitors, which are all reported together from one convenient saliva sample collection.
David Zava PhD, ZRT’s Founder and Chief Scientist, explains, “While dried urine testing for steroid metabolites shows the end result of hormone metabolism – the ‘garbage dump’ of inactive hormones – the new LCMS Saliva Steroid Profile shows the bioavailable levels of active hormones and hormone synthesis inhibitors that are currently circulating around the body and acting at hormone receptors or hormone synthesis enzymes, giving a clear window into how they are affecting health.”
The addition of this new LCMS Profile gives ZRT the distinction of being the first and only lab to offer providers a test for ethinyl estradiol, the most common component of oral contraceptives. Testing ethinyl estradiol along with the other estrogens in the profile helps providers assess the total body burden of estrogens on their patients using most oral birth control formulations, and thereby assess symptoms in the light of their overall hormone picture. LCMS testing also allows for accurate reporting of hormones often present and active at very low levels, such as estrogens and androgens seen in men, children, postmenopausal women, and people using aromatase and 5a-reductase inhibitors of hormone synthesis.
ZRT’s LCMS saliva steroid profile also gives providers a comprehensive range of androgen tests that can be used for a full assessment of women with hair loss or acne. Saliva melatonin was also added to this new profile to give providers an assessment of real-time waking melatonin production and help identify possible sleep problems. Finally, to complete the hormone picture, ZRT includes the hormone blockers anastrozole, letrozole and finasteride to evaluate the effects of these drugs on steroid hormone metabolism in terms of buildup or deficiency of key hormones, as well as treatment compliance.
To learn more about ZRT’s new LCMS Saliva Steroid Profile or to order yours today, visit ZRT’s saliva page or contact customer service at 866.600.1636 or email info@zrtlab.com.
About ZRT Laboratory
ZRT Laboratory is a CLIA-certified commercial and research laboratory founded in 1998 by breast cancer researcher David Zava, Ph.D. ZRT has pioneered innovative testing methods for hormones, neurotransmitters, heavy metals and more, offering health care professionals convenient and simple at home options for collection of different body fluids including saliva, dried blood spot, and dried urine. With over 10 million clinical tests performed over the past 20+ years, coupled with our signature personalized test report, ZRT Laboratory has become a world recognized leader in hormone and wellness testing. Individuals, health care providers in all 50 states and in over 100 countries, as well as research-oriented government, private, and academic organizations worldwide use our testing. Learn more at zrtlab.com.
