Laboratory Medicine (Caryannopoulos) - 080916

Question 1

Describe the role of pathology and laboratory medicine in patient care

Answer 1

4 major roles for laboratory tests in patient care:

• Diagnosis of disease
• Monitoring of disease, therapies, interventions
• Screening for disease
• Research

Question 2

Diagnostic Test vs. Screening Test

Answer 2

Diagnostic test - used to determine the presence or absence of a disease when a subject has signs or symptoms of the disease

Screening test - identifies asymptomatic individuals who may have the disease

The diagnostic test is performed AFTER a positive screening test to establish a definitive diagnosis

(i.e. HIV patient screened for antibodies… sensitivity…. then PCR is run to determin if they have the virus.. specificity)