Dilemmas and controversies in the interpretation of laboratory results
2008
Popović Danica | Popović Mirko
Concentration of many substances in blood is a good indicator of the physiologic state of a patient. It is usual that results obtained represent the real concentration of tested substances in a patient, that is, represent his physiological state. The influence of some factors indicates that this assumption is not always true. Mistakes owing to analytic factors are reduced to the least possible rate by using the quality control. Also, many nonanalytic factors can change the concentration of one or more substances in the sample, so the results obtained are not an indicator of the physiological state of the patient. Results of clinical-biochemical determination are interpreted by comparing with the reference values and so the conclusion is made by a comparison method. In order to perform this process properly, reference values for each specific parameter are necessary. Cyclic variations, physical activity, stress, and other factors significantly affect the obtained result analysis. In the interpretation of results, these specificities have to be considered, otherwise they will be interpreted as pathologic, which leads to wrong conclusions. Inadequate preparation of a patient for a certain analysis and disrespect for rules regarding preparation and sample analyzing can lead to drastic deviation of results from the real values. For those reasons there are certain dilemmas and controversies in the result interpretation.
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