TY - CHAP M1 - Book, Section TI - The Clinical Laboratory in Modern Health Care A1 - Killeen, Anthony A. A2 - Jameson, J. Larry A2 - Fauci, Anthony S. A2 - Kasper, Dennis L. A2 - Hauser, Stephen L. A2 - Longo, Dan L. A2 - Loscalzo, Joseph PY - 2018 T2 - Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, 20e AB - Modern medicine relies extensively on the clinical laboratory as a key component of health care. It is commonly held that at least 60–70% of all critical clinical decisions rely to some extent on a laboratory result. For many diseases, the clinical laboratory provides essential diagnostic information. As an example, histopathologic analysis provides basic information about histologic type and classification of tumors and their degree of invasion into adjacent tissues. Microbiologic testing is required to identify infectious organisms and determine antibiotic susceptibility. For many common diseases, expert groups have produced standard guidelines for diagnosis that rely on defined clinical laboratory values, e.g., blood glucose or hemoglobin A1C levels form the basis for diagnosis of diabetes mellitus; the presence of specific serum antibodies is required for diagnosis of many rheumatologic diseases; and serum levels of cardiac markers are a mainstay in diagnosis of acute coronary syndromes. SN - PB - McGraw-Hill Education CY - New York, NY Y2 - 2024/03/29 UR - accesspharmacy.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1164035799 ER -