Articles on Medical Diseases and Conditions

Entries Tagged ‘Laboratory Tests’

Diagnostic Procedures that Complement and Supplement Laboratory Tests

The clinical pathologist frequently encounters situations in which laboratory tests alone are not sufficient to provide a diagnosis. If this happens, certain diagnostic procedures may be suggested to provide additional information. These procedures are noted together with the laboratory tests that they complement or supplement. Nevertheless, it seems useful to summarize some basic information about […]

Laboratory Tests in Psychiatry

Until recently, the laboratory had relatively little to offer in psychiatry. Laboratory tests were used mainly to diagnose or exclude organic illness. For example, in one study about 5% of patients with dementia had organic diseases such as hyponatremia, hypothyroidism, hypoglycemia, and hypercalcemia; about 4% were caused by alcohol; and about 10% were due to […]

Congenital Diseases of Skeletal Muscle

Several well-known disorders affecting skeletal muscle either are not congenital or do not yet have any conspicuously useful laboratory test. Among these are disorders whose primary defect is located in the central nervous system or peripheral nervous system rather than in skeletal muscle itself. In this group are various neurologic diseases that secondarily result in […]

Gynecomastia

Gynecomastia is usually defined as enlargement of the male breast. This may be palpable only or may be grossly visible. Either type may be unilateral or bilateral. A small degree of palpable nonvisible gynecomastia is said to be present in about 30%-40% of clinically normal men. Most etiologies of gynecomastia can produce either unilateral or […]

Female Hirsitism

Female hirsutism is a relatively common problem in which the overriding concern of the physician is to rule out an ovarian or adrenal tumor. The type and distribution of hair can be used to differentiate physiologic hair growth from nonphysiologic growth (hirsutism). In females there are two types of hair: fine, thin, nonpigmented vellus hair […]

Female Delayed Puberty and Primary Amenorrhea

Onset of normal puberty in girls is somewhat variable, with disagreement in the literature concerning at what age to diagnose precocious puberty and at what age to suspect delayed puberty. The most generally agreed-on range of onset for female puberty is between 9 and 16 years. Signs of puberty include breast development, growth of pubic […]

Lipoprotein Phenotyping

In 1965, Frederickson, Levy, and Lees published an article that caught the attention of the medical world. They divided lipoprotein disorders into five basic “phenotypes,” based primarily on electrophoresis of serum obtained after 10 hours of overnight fasting. The sixth phenotype was added later when type II was split into IIa and IIb. Lipoprotein phenotyping […]

Laboratory Tests Used to Assess Risk of Coronary Heart Disease (CHD)

There has been much interest in the significance of the lipoproteins in atherosclerosis. Large numbers of studies have been carried out, different populations have been examined, various diets have been tried, and endless pages of statistics have been published. Several laboratory assays that have general, but sometimes not unanimous, acceptance as predictors of atherosclerotic risk […]

Laboratory Tests in Neurology

Most laboratory tests concerned with diagnosis or function of the CNS are discussed earlier in this chapter. The major condition affecting the peripheral nervous system which involves the laboratory is myasthenia gravis.

Other Gram-Negative Organisms

Pseudomonas These gramegative rods are not classified with the Enterobacteriaceae, although they may be found normally in the GI tract. The most important is Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Pseudomonas is less common in community-acquired infection than with most of the major Enterobacteriaceae but becomes more frequent in hospital-acquired infections (about 10% of nosocomial infections). The conditions for […]