Table of Contents

Requesting laboratory tests and interpreting the results. Water and sodium. The kidneys. Acid-base disturbances. Potassium. Calcium, phosphate and magnesium. The hypothalamus and pituitary gland. The adrenal cortex. The reproductive system. Pregnancy and infertility. Thyroid function. Carbohydrate metabolism. Plasma lipids and lipoproteins. Nutrition. Vitamins, trace elements and metals. The gastrointestinal tract. Liver disorders and gallstones. Plasma enzymes in diagnosis (clinical enzymology). Proteins in plasma and urine. Purine and urate metabolism. Disorders of haem metabolism: iron and the porphyrias. Cardiovascular disease. Cerebrospinal and pleural fluid. Metabolic effects of tumours. Therapeutic drug monitoring and poisoning. Clinical biochemistry at the extremes of age. Inborn errors of metabolism. Genetics and DNA-based technology in clinical biochemistry. Patient sample collection and use of the laboratory. Point of care testing. Appendix 1 Units in clinical chemistry.

About the Author

Professor Martin Andrew Crook, Consultant in Chemical Pathology and Metabolic Medicine, Guy's, St Thomas' and University Hospital Lewisham and Visiting Professor, School of Science, University of Greenwich, London, UK