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