on tuesday i am having a saliva test for testosterone levels.This is the only way this lab does it,i know that results for testosterone are usually done in ng/di,what i am saying is how am going to tranlate this figure from pg/ml into ng/di,and what is low for pg/ml

antoniovaldex (imported) wrote: Mon Feb 23, 2009 9:25 am on tuesday i am having a saliva test for testosterone levels.This is the only way this lab does it,i know that results for testosterone are usually done in ng/di,what i am saying is how am going to tranlate this figure from pg/ml into ng/di,and what is low for pg/ml

According to my technical dictionary, ng is nanograms, pg is picograms, and ml is milliliter...so pg/ml is picograms per milliliter. But I have no idea what di is. I find over 40 definitions of di in my dictionary, ranging from deionized water to drill instructor, but none of them seem to be a unit of measure. Interesting question.

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amahl_shukup (imported) wrote: Mon Feb 23, 2009 1:04 pm . But I have no idea what di is. I find over 40 definitions of di in my dictionary, ranging from deionized water to drill instructor, but none of them seem to be a unit of measure. Interesting question.

I suspect that the "di" was actually "dl" (decalitre), but because of the typically poor penmanship in medical environment, someone read it as "di." This sort of mistake could also have been cause by the letter "l" on a form that had been copied through several generations, comming to look like an "i."

Or more likely, "dl" could be deciliter, or 1/10 of a liter.

A nanogram is 10^-9 grams, or 0.000000001 gram. 1.0 ng/dl is therefore 0.00000001 grams/liter, or 10^-8 grams/liter.

A picogram is 10^-12 grams, or 0.000000000001 gram and a milliliter is 10^-3 liters, so 1 pg/ml is 0.000000001 grams/liter, or 10^-9 grams/liter.

Therefore, 1 ng/dl is equal to 10 pg/ml.

antoniovaldex (imported) wrote: Mon Feb 23, 2009 9:25 am on tuesday i am having a saliva test for testosterone levels.This is the only way this lab does it,i know that results for testosterone are usually done in ng/di,what i am saying is how am going to tranlate this figure from pg/ml into ng/di,and what is low for pg/ml

I looked back on one of my blood test and found the following.

Here is how mine were listed.

Testosterone Free and Total -----------------1.8 pg/ml Normal male range is 47.0 -244.0 pg/ml

Testosterone Total ----------------------------8.0 ng/dl Normal male range is 350-890 ng/dl

pg = pico grams = 10 to the -12 power over Milli liters

ng = namo grams = 10 to the -9 power over Deci liters

bobbie ,i don't understand your results,it is probably my ignorance but 1.8pg/ml seems very low and also 8.0 in ng/di seems even more low,

if i get a reading of say 4.0 in the free testosterone how can i measure it in ng/di ,bear in mind that i am having a saliva test and not a blood test

Your report should be like bobbie's and give the numerical amount, followed by the normal range for that test done at that lab. Different labs may have different ranges and there may be differences between saliva and blood tests. Be cautious in comparing your specific result to others who did not use the same lab or same procedure.

antoniovaldex (imported) wrote: Tue Feb 24, 2009 6:31 am bobbie ,i don't understand your results,it is probably my ignorance but 1.8pg/ml seems very low and also 8.0 in ng/di seems even more low,

if i get a reading of say 4.0 in the free testosterone how can i measure it in ng/di ,bear in mind that i am having a saliva test and not a blood test

Forgot to tell you that I am castrated. My levels will be very low.

I did use the saliva test one time and the measure numbers were in a different format then the ones I got from my doctor. You should have a scale on the test results from the saliva test giving the normal range.