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Concept
Medical test
Summary
A medical test is a medical procedure performed to detect, diagnose, or monitor diseases, disease processes, susceptibility, or to determine a course of treatment. Medical tests such as, physical and visual exams, diagnostic imaging, genetic testing, chemical and cellular analysis, relating to clinical chemistry and molecular diagnostics, are typically performed in a medical setting.
Medical tests can be classified by their purposes, the most common of which are diagnosis, screening and evaluation.
A diagnostic test is a procedure performed to confirm or determine the presence of disease in an individual suspected of having a disease, usually following the report of symptoms, or based on other medical test results. This includes posthumous diagnosis. Examples of such tests are:
Using nuclear medicine to examine a patient suspected of having a lymphoma.
Measuring the blood sugar in a person suspected of having diabetes mellitus after periods of increased urination.
Taking a complete blood count of an individual experiencing a high fever to check for a bacterial infection.
Monitoring electrocardiogram readings on a patient with chest pain to diagnose or determine any heart irregularities.
Screening (medicine)
Screening refers to a medical test or series of tests used to detect or predict the presence of disease in at-risk individuals within a defined group such as a population, family, or workforce. Screenings may be performed to monitor disease prevalence, manage epidemiology, aid in prevention, or strictly for statistical purposes.
Examples of screenings include measuring the level of TSH in the blood of a newborn infant as part of newborn screening for congenital hypothyroidism, checking for Lung cancer in non-smoking individuals who are exposed to second-hand smoke in an unregulated working environment, and Pap smear screening for prevention or early detection of cervical cancer.
Monitoring (medicine)
Some medical tests are used to monitor the progress of, or response to medical treatment.
Official source
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