Diagnostic study reveals basal serum cortisol reliably excludes hypoadrenocorticism in dogs, indicating ACTH stimulation is only required when levels fall below threshold.
Measurement of basal serum cortisol is useful as a screening test for hypoadrenocorticism in dogs using a cut-off of ≤2 μg/dL (≤55 nmol/L), and the disease is unlikely with a basal serum cortisol >2 μg/dL (>55 nmol/L). A basal serum cortisol ≤2 μg/dL (≤55 nmol/L) cannot be used to diagnose hypoadrenocorticism, and an ACTH stimulation test should be performed in these cases.
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Bovens et al. (2014) studied this question.
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