DETERMINATION OF 17-KETOSTEROIDS IN URINE

Abstract

WITHIN the past few years increasing attention has been paid to the excretion of 17-ketosteroids as a diagnostic aid. In general, the methods proposed have been time-consuming and impractical for average hospital laboratory routine. There is a need for a simple and accurate procedure capable of yielding reproducible results in the hands of the average clinical laboratory technician. Such a method was proposed by Drekter et at. in 1952 (1). However, in duplication of this method, the authors found that the final color was markedly unstable, fading as much as 5 to 10 per cent in transmission readings in the first three to four minutes. In addition, recovery of added steroid varied from 20 to 150 per cent. Studies were undertaken in an attempt to increase the stability of the color, and to afford greater accuracy in recovery of added steroid and replicate determinations.