Mercury, Serum Test

Mercury testing is usually done when there is excessive exposure to mercury. The mercury levels can be tested by mainly a blood test and or urine test. The doctor would suggest this test if the patient is showing symptoms of mercury poisoning or to measure the occupational exposure of Mercury. Blood test is done to detect the presence of Methyl Mercury or the other compounds of mercury formed by the interaction of mercury with carbon based compounds. Slight exposure to mercury is not dangerous. The mercury gets collected in the organs like kidneys, brain and liver. Kidneys filter out the mercury, but if the exposure is to a large quantity of mercury, then kidneys are not capable to remove the excess mercury and thus it causes organ failure.

No specific preparation is required for this test. In case the patient has been administered a contrasting substance which is used in MRI scanning, then the test should be performed after 96 hours. Because the contrasting mediums interfere with this test.

Helps in detecting excessive amounts of mercury in a person’s body. Helps in determining whether the person suffers from short term exposure of a long term chronic exposure to mercury Testing helps monitor the levels of mercury in people who are exposed at their workplace Helps in evaluating the condition of internal organs of the person suffering from the exposure.

Blood sample is collected by injecting a needle in the vein from fore arm. Sometimes a 24 hour urine sample will be collected as well. 24 hour urine test sample is collected at home, is a little complex. The special container is provided by the pathologist to collect the sample. This test takes 2 days. For day 1 the patient is supposed to urinate in the toilet after getting up in the morning. Then for all the other times in the day, the urine should be collected in the special container. This should continue till morning of day 2 when the urine should again be collected in the container. The container should then be sealed and named properly and returned to the lab for analysis.