Beta HCG mIU/L and U/L

[mercyriver]

I just need to make sure I am doing this correct. Most material on Testicular Cancer lists the diffrent Risk Classifications for nonseminoma with levels of Beta HCG in terms of U/L and anything below 5000 U/L is good risk, between 5,000 and 50,000 U/L is Intermediate Risk and anything above 50,000 U/L is considered poor risk.

The labs that we get from the Dr list the Beta HCG is mIU/L, the definition of which is A milli-international unit is one-thousandth of an international unit.

So, if my husband has a lab that says his Beta HCG is 5 mIU/L that is the same as 5,000 U/L, correct?

So anything over 50 mIU/L would be poor risk?

I just want to make sure I am seeing this correctly. And if I am, why in the world do they write it up this way?

Becki

[petep]

yes...

here is an article with the standards...

http://www.moffitt.org/moffittapps/ccj/v6n6/article1.htm

so when my bhcg came in at 4.6...it was 4600mu/l

[Scott]

Good risk: hCG <5,000 mIU/mL
Intermediate risk: hCG 5,000-50,000 mIU/mL
Poor risk: hCG >50,000 mIU/mL

1 mIU/mL = 1 IU/L = 1,000 mIU/L

So, if my husband has a lab that says his Beta HCG is 5 mIU/L that is the same as 5,000 U/L, correct?

5 mIU/L = 0.005 IU/L
5,000 IU/L = 5,000 mIU/mL = 5,000,000 mIU/L

So anything over 50 mIU/L would be poor risk?

Anything over 50,000 mIU/mL is poor risk. 50 mIU/L = 0.05 mIU/mL.

[mercyriver]

My mistake

I am sorry, I should have put my husbands Beta HCG was 5 mIU/mL not 5 mIu/L

But thank you for all the math Scott

And I have now seen it listed as

Good risk: hCG <5,000 mIU/mL (this web site)

and

Good risk: HCG <5,000 U/L (on the web site Pete reffered to and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network)

So I am honestly compleatly confused on what is what.

But if you check, you will see they are listed differently. And if I am not compleatly loosing my math sense, they are not the same thing, right?

I am sorry to be so confused.

Becki

[Scott]

"U" just means "unit," and "IU" means "international unit," and they're the same thing here. The m's cancel each other out, so 1 mIU/mL = 1 IU/L.

[mercyriver]

I understand that U is for unit, what I am not quite catching is why 1 mIU/mL = 1 IU/L?

To my brain that is the same as saying 1 mL = 1L (one mililiter equals one liter)

Maybe I am just missing something...

Clearly my brain is not awake and I need to look at it some...

sorry about that!

[Scott]

Does it help to see it this way?

1 mIU
-------
1 mL

=

1 IU
-----
1 L

[blindbe2]

1 meter = 1000 millimeters
1 liter = 1000 milliliters

1 mIU/mL = 1 IU/L?

The "1" in the equation above is just a ratio. For instance:

50 cars/street = 5000 cars/100 streets

The ratio 50/1 = 5000/100

So they would simplify the ratio to just 50/1 on both side

[mercyriver]

I am going to just pretend I understand. I am sure I most likely understand.

I think more then anything I am just super paranoid right now that they are missing something. The oncologist keeps forgetting to do things and now we are fighting with the insurance company to move forward with any diagnostics or treatment, and honestly it is driving me crazy.

And I can't get my husband to agree to seek another opinion at all. He trusts the oncologist and everyone else 100%, without question.

And I can't seem to shake that feeling that something is being missed. I've always trusted my God given women's intuition before and it is really hard to ignore it right now.

I'll keep on pushing!

Becki