Clinical Diagnosis and Management by Laboratory Methods

This text provides integrated scientific guidance for diagnosis and clinical management, as well as disease prevention and health promotion. The focus is on medical and laboratory problem-solving, assessing the merits of each blood or body fluid measurement, examination or determination in terms of sensitivity, specificity, precision, and accuracy. Features include: material on oncology, covering cell biology and early tumour detection, including diagnosis and management of cancer using tumour markers as well as PCR and oncogenes in the early detection and management of cancer; a section on molecular pathology, featuring topics such as basic principles and techniques, establishing a molecular diagnostics laboratory, molecular diagnosis and pathology of infectious diseases, genetic diseases, and haematopoietic neoplasms; and information on immunology and immunopathology, including cytokines and adhesion molecules, MHC and disease, vascular inflammatory, rheumatic, autoimmune, and allergic diseases. The text aims to enable the reader to develop a clear understanding of the order and sequence of lab tests, as well as the interpretation of results.