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Daily Digest Archive for December 26, 2002
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Q: (Initially posted on December 20, 2002) FROM MENTEE SARAH
U-M IN CA
How are different types of blood tests performed?
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December 26, 2002
A: FROM MENTOR SUSAN MODESITT
IN KY
Blood work can be used to determine hormone levels in the body,
toxic drug levels, exposure to certain diseases (Hepatitis,
HIV, rubella,
chicken pox etc) as well as almost anything else you can think
of. Each
test requires a different study and may look at different components
of the
blood. Blood is composed of cells and plasma (a straw colored
liquid) as
well as all the nutrients, hormones, antibodies, proteins and
soluble
messengers that travel through the blood system.
So in short, this is almost an impossible question to answer
as there are a
myriad number of types of blood tests that are all performed
in different
manners. For example, a blood count (also called a CBC) measures
the
percent of blood that is composed of the different types of
cells, red blood
cells that carry oxygen, white blood cells that fight infection
and
platelets that react to bleeding. To measure a hematocrit (the
percent of
blood that is red blood cells), one takes a sample of whole
blood and spins
it in a centrifuge and simply measures it. For women, a normal
hematocrit
ranges from 35-42%, a lower value is considered anemic.
If there is a particular blood test that you were interested
in knowing more
about, please let me know and I would be happy to elaborate
on a specific
test. Hope this helps
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