Laboratory Tests

Laboratory tests check a sample of your blood, urine, or body tissues. A technician or your doctor analyzes the test samples to see if your results fall within the normal range. The tests use a range because what is normal differs from person to person.

The use of clinical laboratory test results in diagnostic decision making is an integral part of clinical medicine. The menu of laboratory tests available to clinicians constitutes an impressive array that has expanded exponentially since 1920 when Folin and Wu devised the first useful test for the quantification of serum glucose concentration. The current list of tests offered by one major reference laboratory includes nearly 3,000 analytes, which does not include the additional array of more commonly ordered tests