The biotin problem may be smaller now, depending on your lab's kit
Older Roche reagents shifted by 20% once biotin passed 500 nanograms per millilitre; newer ones tolerated 1,000 to 3,000. Troponin was not among the assays tested.
What the study found
Newer Roche reagents tolerate biotin, and troponin was not tested
Older Roche reagents shifted by 20% once biotin passed 500 nanograms per millilitre. Newer ones tolerated 1,000 to 3,000, against patients in the same study averaging around 3. The assays examined were thyroid and tumour markers; troponin, the heart attack test, was not among them.
The caveat · 78 patients, one hospital in Taiwan
78 patients in one Taiwanese hospital, and the tolerance figures come from spiking reagents rather than from those patients. Comparing two manufacturers in a single laboratory does not establish a general ranking between them. The highest patient level found was about 3 nanograms per millilitre, so this shows the reagents have improved rather than that these patients were ever at risk.
What we don't know
Most of what is known about biotin skewing blood tests was measured on older reagents. Newer ones tolerate far more, but troponin, the heart-attack test, was not checked, so whether the problem has shrunk depends on a lab's kit.