287 articles
Triple test
The triple test is a second-trimester maternal blood screen measuring AFP, hCG, and estriol to estimate the risk of Down syndrome and neural tube defects.
Tumor marker
A tumor marker, or tumor biomarker, is a substance made by cancer cells or the body in response to cancer, measured mainly in blood to help diagnose and monitor it.
Tumor mutational burden assessment
Tumor mutational burden (TMB), also known as tumor mutation burden, counts somatic mutations per megabase of tumor DNA; in 2020 it supported FDA approval of pembrolizumab for TMB-high solid tumors.
Urinalysis
Urinalysis is a laboratory test examining the physical, chemical, and microscopic properties of urine to detect kidney disease, urinary tract infection, liver disease, and metabolic disorders such as diabetes.
Urine culture
Urine culture is a laboratory test that grows and counts microbes from a urine sample to identify the organism causing a urinary tract infection and its antibiotic susceptibilities.
Urine cytology
Urine cytology is a diagnostic pathology method that microscopically examines cells shed into urine to detect urothelial carcinoma; it is highly specific but only moderately sensitive, best for high-grade tumors.
Urine specimen collection
Urine specimen collection is the clinical procedure of obtaining a urine sample by midstream clean catch, catheterization, or suprapubic aspiration for urinalysis, culture, and other testing.
Urine test strip
Urine test strip (dipstick, reagent strip): plastic strip with dry-chemistry pads detecting glucose, protein, blood, ketones, nitrite, leukocyte esterase, pH, and more; from Maumené 1850 and Oliver 1883 to Clinistix 1956.
Vaginal cytology
Vaginal cytology is a diagnostic method that microscopically examines cells from the vagina and cervix to detect malignant cells and assess hormonal status, in humans and animals.
Vaginal smear
A vaginal smear is a cytology preparation of cells scraped from the vaginal lining and examined microscopically to assess hormones, infection, and precancerous or cancerous disease.
Venous sampling
Venous sampling is a diagnostic catheter procedure that draws blood from selected deep veins to measure hormone gradients, localizing which gland is secreting excess hormone.
Viral load testing
Viral load testing measures the amount of virus in a patient's blood, reported as RNA or DNA copies per milliliter, to track infection and treatment response.
White blood cell differential
White blood cell differential (WBC diff, differential leukocyte count): lab test classifying neutrophils, lymphocytes, monocytes, eosinophils, and basophils by percentage and absolute count, done manually on stained smears or by automated hematology analyzers with flag-based smear review.
Widal test
Widal test: 1896 serological agglutination test by Georges-Fernand Widal (also Gruber-Widal reaction) detecting Salmonella O and H antibodies for typhoid diagnosis; unreliable, low specificity, still used cheaply in endemic countries.
Wright–Giemsa stain
Wright–Giemsa stain (Wright-Giemsa) is a combined Romanowsky-type stain used in hematology and cytology, staining cell nuclei purple and cytoplasm blue on blood and bone marrow smears.
Xpert MTB/RIF assay
The Xpert MTB/RIF assay is an automated cartridge-based molecular test that detects tuberculosis DNA and rifampicin resistance directly from unprocessed sputum in under two hours, endorsed by WHO in 2010.
α-synuclein seed amplification assay
The α-synuclein seed amplification assay (αSyn-SAA) is an ultrasensitive laboratory test that amplifies misfolded α-synuclein seeds in cerebrospinal fluid to detect Parkinson's disease and related synucleinopathies.