Thyrotoxicosis factitia masquerading as recurrent Graves' disease: endogenous antibody immunoassay interference, a pitfall for the unwary

Abstract

Antibody interference in immunoassays is an underestimated problem, which has the potential to cause patient harm and waste health-care resources. We report a case where thyroglobulin antibodies generated a false-positive thyroglobulin result delaying the diagnosis of thyrotoxicosis factitia masquerading as recurrent Graves' disease. A high index of clinical suspicion and good laboratory-clinician communication underpins effective clinical and laboratory strategies to detect potentially erroneous laboratory results due to endogenous antibody interference in immunoassays.