Table 1.

Short-term actions to improve the international comparability of PTH results

Priority Action
1	Raise awareness of the shortcomings of current PTH assays in the management of renal patients with renal physicians and clinical biochemists through published articles in key journals and posters and/or presentations at conferences.
2	Following a systematic review of the literature, prepare good practice recommendations for the optimal pre-analytical handling of patients and samples to reduce variability in PTH results due to pre-analytical factors including anti-coagulant used, time of sampling, sample handling and storage and sample stability.
3	Under the auspices of UK NEQAS in collaboration with other EQA providers, extend the Scottish single-patient study [28] by distributing single patient samples from defined subjects (normal, hypercalcaemic and renal) to a number of labs in order to acquire data on performance of all assays in common use.
4	Recommend adoption of assay-specific PTH action limits for managing renal patients pending re-standardization of methods in terms of a common standard. This should include reaching agreement (ideally internationally but realistically nationally) on units for reporting PTH results.