Clinical Biochemistry

Question 1

What are lab tests used for?

Answer 1

Diagnosis
Monitoring
Prognosis
Risk
Screening - detection of subclinical disease

Question 2

What can monitoring tests be used for?

Answer 2

Disease progression
Responses to treatment
Complciations of treatments
Possible drug toxicity
Monitor tumour growth and treatment response

Question 3

What are the criteria for lab screening?

Answer 3

High enough prevalence of disease to justify expense

Significant morbidity and mnortality if left untreated

Disease detectable before symptoms surface

Effective therapy available that’s safe and inexpensive

Test must be cost effective and easily performed in a lab

Question 4

Pre-analytical errors are what and account for how many erorrs?

Answer 4

Anything that might happen before the sample is analysed

80%

Question 5

What are examples of pre-analytical errors?

Answer 5

Wrong patient
Mismatch hospital number and patient name
….