What Are the Various Types of Lab Tests?

Health care today depends heavily on several types of laboratory tests. In a laboratory test, a sample of blood, urine, another physiological fluid, or tissue is studied to learn more about the patient's health. Particular medical problems can be identified and determined with accuracy and reliability by certain laboratory testing. More comprehensive data from other tests enables doctors to recognize or rule out potential health issues.

Numerous blood and urine tests can be performed at a lab. Blood tests may be performed to measure blood oxygen levels or to check for genetic abnormalities (inherited diseases). Infections and other abnormalities can be checked for in urine tests using blood, chemicals, bacteria, and cells. To discover more about a person's health, doctors frequently utilise other lab test types, such as imaging tests, in addition to laboratory testing.

In this blog, we will explore the various types of laboratory tests commonly conducted to better understand their significance in healthcare.

Different Types of Laboratory Tests

To assess chemical component concentrations in bodily fluids and tissues, clinical chemistry employs chemical procedures. Blood and urine are the most frequently utilized samples in clinical chemistry.

Several lab test types are available to determine and quantify the chemical component in blood or urine. These include blood glucose, enzymes, electrolytes, lipids (fats),  hormones, various metabolic chemicals, and proteins. The most popular types of laboratory tests are described below.

Urine Test

Urine tests, commonly referred to as urinalysis, entail examining urine samples to find and identify different medical disorders. These non-invasive tests can provide vital details about a person's kidney health, urinary tract infections, level of hydration, and presence of certain chemicals or illnesses.  It involves examining the color, consistency, and composition of urine.

A urine test is the process of testing urine in a lab for different cells and substances including red blood cells, white blood cells, infections, or too much protein. Urinalysis dissects the elements of urine to examine it for the presence of proteins, medications, blood, and other things. Hematuria, sometimes known as blood in the urine, might be the outcome of a harmless ailment or another issue. A renal or cardiovascular issue may be indicated by high amounts of protein in the urine (proteinuria).

A regular checkup or other periodic checks of your general health may include a urine test. One method to identify some ailments in their early stages is by urinalysis. They consist of:

• Kidney disease
• Liver disease
• Diabetes

If you are going to undergo surgery or are being admitted to the hospital, your doctor might want to analyze your pee. Urinalysis can also be done as part of a prenatal checkup. The tests can help identify the health concern if you exhibit signs of a kidney or urinary tract ailment. If you have a condition that has to be monitored over time, such as kidney disease, you could also have this test on a regular basis.

Blood Test

One of the most frequent tests used by medical professionals to assess your general health or assist in the diagnosis of medical disorders is a blood test. A basic physical checkup or specific symptoms may require a lab blood group test.

A blood test is a laboratory examination of potential compounds that exist in your blood. To monitor how effectively you are controlling a problem like diabetes or elevated cholesterol levels, you could have blood testing. It entails examining a blood sample in order to assess numerous aspects of health.  They may also be necessary for regular checks or when you are unwell.

Blood tests give medical professionals vital information that they need to diagnose illnesses, track the success of treatments, and assess general health. A little blood sample can be taken and examined by a doctor to check for a number of diseases and conditions.

Performing particular blood tests, such as cell counts, measurements of different blood chemistries, and the detection of inflammatory indicators, may be part of your review. Your blood can have several different components measured, including salts, blood cell counts, and proteins that are particular to the heart, such as BNP. Blood chemistries, assessments of liver and renal function, and genetic investigations may be performed as additional diagnostics. Genetic testing could be suggested in several circumstances. We can also invite you to participate in our current research by allowing us to take some of your blood and keep it for further analysis.

Here are the types of blood tests:

• Antinuclear antibody
• Blood chemistry study
• Blood lipid profile
• BNP testing
• Complement
• Complete blood count (CBC)
• Creatinine
• C-reactive protein (CRP)
• Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR)
• Fecal occult blood test (FOBT)
• Genetic studies
• Hematocrit
• Liver function tests
• Peripheral blood smear
• Rheumatoid factor (RF)
• Sedimentation rate

The majority of healthcare providers advise yearly health checks, which may involve a full blood count test. Providers often advise testing depending on the information they have about you. For instance, if you are obese (BMI more than 30) or overweight (BMI above 25), they would advise routine blood glucose testing.

Tumour Test

Tumour markers are chemicals the body produces in reaction to cancer cells or secreted into the blood or urine by cancer cells. tumour cells create signals that indicate cancer. Blood, urine, cerebrospinal fluid, and feces are among the bodily fluids that may be detected in laboratories. Any concerns or symptoms that suggest a tumour are given the recommendation to undergo these tests. If the tumour marker test is carried out before the tumour therapy, the parameter monitoring helps assess the efficacy of the therapy and detect tumour recurrence.

Some of the useful tumour markers include:

• Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP)
• Prostate-specific antigen (PSA)
• CA 125
• Prostatic acid phosphatase (PAP)
• Carcinoembryonic antigen
• Human chorionic gonadotropin
• CA 19-9
• CA 15-3
• CA 27-29
• Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH)
• Neuron-specific enolase (NSE)
• Bladder tumour marker studies

Tumour markers can help identify possible issues, but they need to be used in conjunction with other tests for the reasons that follow, according to the National Cancer Institute (NCI):

• Elevated amounts of these chemicals in the blood are also possible in people with mild diseases.
• Some tumour indicators are not exclusive to one particular kind of tumour.
• tumour markers are not always present in people with tumours.

A test result that is negative (the concentration of the tumour marker is within the normal range) does not necessarily mean that the patient has cancer, just as a test result that is positive does not necessarily mean that the patient has cancer. If the result is positive, only further testing will reveal the existence of a cancerous tumour.