A note on tumour markers and infective screening
Two parts of the advanced panel need explaining so there is no misunderstanding.
Tumour markers are not a cancer screening test on their own. In people without symptoms, a raised reading is usually not cancer, and a normal reading does not mean there is no cancer. They are useful as one part of a larger picture, and the doctor will explain what yours mean for your case.
Infective screening includes HIV. That is your decision, and it is discussed with the doctor before the sample is taken.
The two hormone panels offered
There are two hormone panels at iLIV, and the choice between them depends on your symptoms and history.
The Basic Hormone Profile is a first picture. It suits patients whose symptoms are recent or who have never had hormone testing before.
The Advanced Hormone Panel is broader. It is suggested when symptoms have been running for a while, when the basic panel does not explain them, or when several systems are involved at once.
Add-ons can be arranged on either panel where the history gives a reason: vitamin D, insulin, hsCRP, homocysteine, TSH with FT3 and FT4, iron studies and ferritin, vitamin B12, estradiol with progesterone, LH with FSH, cortisol, and DHEA. Add-ons are not ordered automatically. Each one needs a stated reason.
Preparing for a hormone test
Fasting is needed, because the panel includes fasting blood sugar and a lipid profile. Nothing but water for eight to ten hours before the draw, which is another reason the morning slot suits this panel: you sleep through most of the fast.
Tell us at booking if you take a thyroid tablet, a steroid, hormonal contraception, or a biotin supplement. Thyroid medication is usually taken after the draw rather than before it. Biotin, which is common in hair and nail supplements, interferes with several hormone assays and is normally stopped two days ahead. Do not stop a prescribed medicine on your own. That instruction comes from the doctor, not from a website.
Bring any previous blood results you have, including old ones from another clinic. A single reading tells us less than a direction of travel.
What happens on the day, and when results come back
The visit is short. Registration, the body composition analysis, then the draw. Most people are out inside forty minutes.
Routine markers, being the blood count, renal and liver profiles, lipids, HbA1c and TSH, come back within one to two working days. Sex hormones and the adrenal panel take longer, usually three to five working days, because they run in batches. The advanced panel’s tumour markers and infective screening sit at the same end of that range. The consultation is set after the full set is in, so the doctor reads everything at once rather than calling you twice.
Hormone test or general health screening: which one
These two overlap, and people often book the one that does not answer their question. The difference is what you are actually asking.
| You are asking | Book |
|---|---|
| Am I broadly well? No particular symptom, an annual check | A health screening |
| Why am I tired, gaining weight, sleeping badly, or cycling irregularly? | A hormone profile test |
| My doctor already ran a TSH and it was normal, but the symptoms stayed | A hormone profile test, which reads FT3 and FT4 alongside TSH rather than TSH alone |
| I want body fat, muscle and water numbers | A body composition test, which is included with both hormone panels |
A lone TSH is the most common reason a thyroid problem gets missed. TSH is a pituitary signal, not a thyroid output. It can read inside the range while FT3 sits at the floor of its own range, and FT3 is the fraction that does the work in tissue.
Which symptoms point to which markers
This is the map the doctor works from. It is not a self-diagnosis tool. It is here so you know what is being looked at, and why that marker rather than another one.
| What you notice | Markers read first | Background reading |
|---|---|---|
| Tired all day, wired at night, waking around three in the morning | Cortisol, DHEA, and ACTH on the advanced panel | Cortisol symptoms and sleep and stress |
| Cycles changing, flushes, mood swings after forty | FSH, LH, estradiol, progesterone | Menopause hormones |
| Irregular or absent periods, acne, unwanted hair growth, trouble conceiving | LH with FSH, testosterone, SHBG, insulin | PCOS symptoms |
| Weight up with no change in diet, waist growing | HbA1c, insulin, TSH with FT3 and FT4, cortisol | Weight management |
| Low energy, muscle loss, flat mood in men | Testosterone, SHBG, estradiol, HbA1c | Heart and metabolic risk |
| Bloating, reflux, or irregular bowels alongside fatigue | Full blood count, ferritin, vitamin B12, hsCRP | Gut problems |
| Hair loss, dry skin, cold hands, a slow pulse | TSH with FT3 and FT4, ferritin, vitamin D | How we work through this |
Where to get a hormone test in Malaysia
Sampling and consultation are at iLIV Clinic, Damansara Perdana in Petaling Jaya, about ten minutes from Mutiara Damansara and Kota Damansara and inside half an hour of most of Kuala Lumpur. Laboratory work runs through iLIV Lifesciences I-City, Shah Alam.
Morning slots fill first, because cortisol and the fasting markers both want an early draw. If you are still cycling and need a day-twenty-one progesterone, send us the first day of your last period and we will count the date forward from it.
