Pleural effusion, defined as excess fluid in the pleural space, can complicate the course of a large and pathologically diverse range of pulmonary and non-pulmonary diseases. Laboratory analysis of pleural fluid provides much useful information for the clinician whose diagnostic challenge is the patient presenting...

The anion gap (AG) is a calculated parameter derived from measured serum/plasma electrolyte concentrations. The clinical value of this calculated parameter is the main focus of this article. Both increased and reduced anion gap have clinical significance, but the deviation from normal that has most clinical...

The field of point-of-care testing (POCT) is entering a period of rapid expansion. This expansion is being driven by new evidence for clinical effectiveness of POCT, and new technologies that allow consolidation of testing onto smaller platforms. Technological improvements will also lead to increased accuracy for...

Patients with heart failure (HF) experience significant morbidity and mortality and those admitted for acute decompensated HF are at particularly high risk for adverse events. Hospitalization represents the major component of the high cost associated with the management of patients with HF. Accordingly, early and...

The discriminative ability of a diagnostic procedure is called diagnostic accuracy, and a number of quantitative measures out of which sensitivity and specificity are mostly used in the biomedical literature can express it. Each diagnostic-accuracy measure relates to some specific aspects of a diagnostic procedure....

Recent studies of D-dimer as a “rule-out” test for deep venous thrombosis (DVT) frequently have used duplex ultrasound rather than venography as the gold standard. Because duplex ultrasound has limited ability to image the calf veins, there is potential for ultrasound studies to classify patients with calf DVT as...

Timely and accurate diagnosis of sepsis is of great importance for the choice of treatment, level of monitoring and prognosis. For this biomarkers could be a significant aid, and thus the search for and application of sepsis biomarkers are of great importance.  Current evidence suggests that C-reactive protein and...

This is the second of two articles focusing on the reference interval, the most widely used tool for interpretation of patient test results.  The first [1] was an introduction to the theoretical concepts that underpin the significance, construction and use of reference intervals. Here consideration is given to the...

In an exclusive acutecaretesting.org interview, Dr Mario Plebani, Head of the Department of Laboratory Medicine at the University Hospital of Padova, Italy and international patient safety advocate, talks about how laboratory, clinicians and manufacturers can work together to reduce errors in testing and diagnosing...

The population-based reference interval is the most widely used tool for interpretation of individual patient laboratory test results. The clinical value of those results depend crucially on the reference intervals with which they are compared, and all efforts directed at ensuring analytically precise and accurate...