We have a new blog series that features each of our lab partners so that you can get to know them better! Next up is Precision Analytical. We had a great conversation with Amy Paoletti, Director of Education and Marketing, to learn more about their lab, how they started it, and the technology behind their tests.
Introducing Precision Analytical (DUTCH)!
Hi Amy! I am excited to chat with you and learn more about Precision Analytical. When was the lab founded and how?
It was founded in 2012, 8 years ago now! Mark Newman is the founder and President. After 15 years of developing novel laboratory tests, he designed a method that would provide the most information on hormones, without compromising validity. He called this method, DUTCH (Dried Urine Test for Comprehensive Hormones). This is how the company got started.
Many of us have heard of the DUTCH test, for those who have not, tell us more about it!
By using four simple, dried urine collections, DUTCH takes the advantages of a 24-hour urine test and adds the pattern of free cortisol (which has traditionally been acquired from saliva). Hormone and metabolite values correlate to 24-hour urine values. Free cortisol concentrations accurately replace its testing in saliva. DUTCH is the most advanced hormone test for functional and integrative medicine practitioners, especially when monitoring (b)HRT.
Sex hormone analysis uses the most accurate method available (LC-MS/MS and GC-MS/MS) and offers basic hormones and extensive sex hormones and their metabolites. Adrenal hormone testing is the most comprehensive available. This test includes free cortisol and a better marker of total cortisol production by including cortisol and cortisone metabolites. Melatonin, oxidative stress and organic acids are also tested.
Mark is always excited to share his passion with practitioners and their practice, and to give your patients the best look into their hormones and a clearer path to better health.
What is the focus at Precision Analytical?
Functional Endocrinology Testing
What technology do you use at your lab? Can you explain how the technology works?
We use LC-MS/MS and GC-MS/MS to achieve the most accurate results.
What is your favorite part about being in this industry?
Our favorite part of serving the integrative and functional medicine practitioner is providing a tool that helps them assess patient's hormone imbalances and subsequently the practitioner can create a wellness treatment plan. Essentially, we're changing lives and we all love that!
At Rupa we feel the same! What is your future vision for functional medicine lab work?
Our future vision for functional medicine lab work is that it is more widely accepted within the Allopathic medicine world. In addition, that more research is conducted utilizing functional medicine labs. We are currently involved in over six research projects and hope to have 3 published in peer-reviewed journals by the end of 2020. Research is the future for functional medicine labs.
I agree - research and data! What are you working on right now as a lab? What do practitioners have to look forward to?
We will be releasing our Cycle Mapping Plus panel by the first part of June 2020. This is a combination of our Cycle Mapping panel and our DUTCH Plus panel.
Anything else interesting, funny, or noteworthy you’d like practitioners to know about your lab?
One of our fun core values - "Everyone Rolls With It". The spirit of teamwork in our company means everyone is willing to do any job big or small. We have an amazingly spirited team at Precision Analytical!
I love that! We have a similar outlook a Rupa as well, being a start-up, with a small team it's always all hands on deck!
The most commonly ordered tests are:
1. DUTCH Complete, DUTCH Plus and Cycle Mapping + DUTCH Complete.
The sample type is a combination of Dried Urine and Saliva swabs. All tests are ideal tools for assessing hormone imbalances.
2. DUTCH Complete/The Easiest Patient Collection:
Patients collect just four or five dried urine samples over a 24-hour period. Dried samples are stable for several weeks making them convenient to ship worldwide. Analytical and Clinical Validation: Precision Analytical's testing methods go through a rigorous validation process to verify accuracy, recovery, and linearity. We pride ourselves in relentlessly pursuing the most accurate and precise techniques available for testing. Effective HRT Monitoring: DUTCH testing was designed to be optimally effective for most forms of hormone replacement therapy. Unique methods are used for improved monitoring of oral progesterone and vaginal hormones. DUTCHPlus takes hormone testing to a whole new level. In addition to sex hormones and their metabolites, the DUTCH Complete looks at the overall diurnal pattern of free cortisol, and the total and distribution of cortisol metabolites.
The DUTCH Plus adds the Cortisol Awakening Response (CAR) to bring another important piece of the HPA-axis into focus. What can the DUTCH Plus tell us that the DUTCH Complete an other adrenal tests cannot? Even though a patient may have "normal" free cortisol levels throughout the day, that doesn't always mean everything is functioning properly. A blunted or exaggerated CAR can appear, even when single sample return "normal" results. The HPA axis might not be appropriately responding when faced with a stressor, even when cortisol levels are fluctuating nicely throughout the day. The "stress" of waking allows us to test the HPA axis in a way that has been independently correlated to clinical outcomes and cannot be assessed by other cortisol tests on the market.
The DUTCH Cycle Mapping maps the progesterone and estrogen pattern throughout the menstrual cycle. It provides the full picture of a woman's cycle to answer important questions for patients with month-long symptoms, infertility and PCOS.
%201.svg){kind=logo}
