ROUTINE GYNECOLOGY EXAMS

A complete blood count (CBC) is a blood test used to evaluate your overall health and detect a wide range of disorders, including anemia, infection and leukemia.

Clinical urine tests are various tests of urine for diagnostic purposes. The most common is a urinalysis (UA), one of the most common methods of medical diagnosis. The word is a portmanteau of the words urine and analysis. Other tests are urine culture (a microbiological culture of urine) and urine electrolyte levels.

Electrolytes are minerals that are found in body tissues and blood in the form of dissolved salts. As electrically charged particles, electrolytes help move nutrients into and wastes out of the body’s cells, maintain a healthy water balance, and help stabilize the body’s acid/base (pH) level.

Commonly used tests to check liver function are the alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), albumin, and bilirubin tests. The ALT and AST tests measure enzymes that your liver releases in response to damage or disease.

Your kidney numbers include 2 tests: ACR (Albumin to Creatinine Ratio) and GFR (glomerular filtration rate). GFR is a measure of kidney function and is performed through a blood test. Your GFR will determine what stage of kidney disease you have – there are 5 stages. ACR is a urine test to see how much albumin (a type of protein) is in your urine. Too much albumin in your urine is an early sign of kidney damage.

For a fasting blood glucose test, you can’t eat or drink anything but water for eight hours before your test. Fasting tests are more common because they provide more accurate results and are easier to interpret.

A total serum protein test measures the total amount of protein in the blood. It also measures the amounts of two major groups of proteins in the blood: albumin and globulin.

The basic lipids blood test measures total cholesterol, triglyceride levels, HDL and LDL cholesterol. More extensive lipid profile testing also includes VLDL, ratio of total cholesterol to HDL, and ratio of LDL to HDL.

The most accurate way to measure how much vitamin D is in your body is the 25-hydroxy vitamin D blood test. A level of 20 nanograms/milliliter to 50 ng/mL is considered adequate for healthy people. A level less than 12 ng/mL indicates vitamin D deficiency.

A ferritin test helps your doctor understand how much iron your body is storing. If a ferritin test reveals that your blood ferritin level is lower than normal, it indicates your body’s iron stores are low and you have iron deficiency.

Homocysteine is an amino acid that is typically present in very small amounts in all cells of the body. That is because the body normally converts homocysteine into other products quickly. Since vitamins B6, B12, and folate are necessary to metabolize homocysteine, increased levels of the amino acid may be a sign of deficiency in those vitamins. This test determines the level of homocysteine in the blood and/or urine.

Low-density lipoprotein particle (LDL particle or LDL-P) testing evaluates LDL particles according to their number, size, density, and/or electrical charge. It may provide useful information for assessing cardiac risk in people who have a personal or family history of heart disease at a young age, especially if their total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) values are not significantly elevated.