Pentagastrin test

Your doctor has recommended this test to help with the diagnosis / management of your condition. Please read the following information carefully. Ask us if there is anything that is not clear or if you would like more information.

This test is used in the diagnosis and follow-up of patients with a rare type of thyroid cancer. The thyroid gland is at the front of your neck, just below your Adam’s apple. It makes thyroid hormones (chemical signals) which regulate the speed with which your body cells and organs work. Sometimes cancerous nodules develop in the thyroid. These do not usually affect thyroid hormone production.

The test will take about 30 minutes.

The test will be carried out by a specialist nurse or by a phlebotomist (a health care professional trained to take blood). A doctor will supervise the test.

Please have nothing to eat or drink for 10 hours before the test.

We will give you an injection of pentagastrin. This similar to a natural protein called gastrin, which is produced in the stomach.

We will check your weight so that we know the correct dose of pentagastrin to give you. A nurse or phlebotomist will put a small plastic tube into a vein in your arm. We will use this to take blood samples and to give you an injection without the need for any more needles. After we have taken the first blood sample, we will give you an injection of pentagastrin. Over the next 15 minutes we will measure your response to the test by taking more blood samples.