Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Foreword by Professor Lord Ara Darzi KBE
- Preface
- Section 1 Perioperative care
- Section 2 Surgical emergencies
- Section 3 Surgical disease
- Section 4 Surgical oncology
- Section 5 Practical procedures, investigations and operations
- Section 6 Radiology
- Section 7 Clinical examination
- Appendices
- Pathology reference ranges
- Useful formulae
- Statistics and critical review
- Organ and tissue donation
- Eponyms in surgery
- Index
Pathology reference ranges
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 July 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Foreword by Professor Lord Ara Darzi KBE
- Preface
- Section 1 Perioperative care
- Section 2 Surgical emergencies
- Section 3 Surgical disease
- Section 4 Surgical oncology
- Section 5 Practical procedures, investigations and operations
- Section 6 Radiology
- Section 7 Clinical examination
- Appendices
- Pathology reference ranges
- Useful formulae
- Statistics and critical review
- Organ and tissue donation
- Eponyms in surgery
- Index
Summary
The interpretation of any clinical laboratory test involves an important concept in comparing the patient's results to the test's ‘reference range.’ This range is established by testing a large number of healthy people and observing what appears to be ‘normal’ for them. The results of this specific population of people are averaged and a range (±2 standard deviations of the average) of normal values is established. This incorporates 95% of the patients sampled. Some factors that influence these values are the patient's age, sex, diet, stress, anxiety and medications being taken.
Note: reference ranges are very institution dependent. These are a rough guide. Please consult your local guidelines.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Hospital SurgeryFoundations in Surgical Practice, pp. 779 - 783Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009