On Demand Medical Testing

A Complete Blood Count or CBCis a great test to take to give you a snapshotyour health. This test gives important information about the kind and the number of cells in your blood. Physicians use this information to evaluate symptoms, help diagnose conditions and treat certain illnesses (like infections).

CEA is used mainly to monitor the treatment of cancer patients, especially those with colon cancer. Following surgery, CEA values are helpful in monitoring the response to therapy and in determining whether the disease has recurred. CEA is also used as a marker for other forms of cancer, including cancers of the rectum, lung, breast, liver, pancreas, stomach, and ovary. Not all cancers produce CEA, and a positive CEA test is not always due to cancer.

The ferritin test is ordered to assess a person's iron stores in the body. The test is sometimes ordered along with an iron test and a TIBC to detect the presence and evaluate the severity of an iron deficiency or overload

B12 and folate are primarily ordered to help diagnose the cause of macrocytic anemia. They are ordered as follow-up tests when large RBCs and a decreased hemoglobin concentration are found during a CBC test. Folate, B12, and an assortment of other tests may be ordered to help evaluate the general health and nutritional status of a patient with signs of significant malnutrition or malabsorption. This may include people with alcoholism and those with conditions associated with malabsorption such as celiac disease, Crohn’s disease, and cystic fibrosis. B12 and folate may also be ordered to help diagnose the cause of mental or behavioral changes, especially in the elderly.

A follicle-stimulating hormone test measures the amount of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) in a blood sample. FSH is produced by the pituitary gland.

• In women, FSH helps control the menstrual cycle and the production of eggs by the ovaries. The amount of FSH varies throughout a woman's menstrual cycle and is highest just before she releases an egg (ovulates).
• In men, FSH helps control the production of sperm. The amount of FSH in men normally remains constant.

The amounts of FSH and other hormones (luteinizing hormone, estrogen, and progesterone) are measured in both a man and a woman to determine why the couple cannot become pregnant (infertility). The FSH level can help determine whether male or female sex organs (testicles or ovaries) are functioning properly.

The human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) test is done to check for the hormone hCG in blood or urine. Some hCG tests measure the exact amount and some just check to see if the hormone is present. HCG is made by the placenta during pregnancy. The hCG test can be used to see if a woman is pregnant or as part of a screening test for birth defects.

Hepatitis B surface antibody (HBsAb)usually appears about 4 weeks after HBsAg disappears. The presence of this antibody means that the infection is at the end of its active stage and you cannot pass the virus to others (you are no longer contagious). This antibody also protects you from getting HBV again in the future. The test is done to determine the need for vaccination—the antibody will be present after receiving the HBV vaccine series, showing that you have protection (immunity) from the virus. Occasionally your test may show that you have both the HBsAb antibodies and HBsAg antigen. In this case you are still contagious.

Hepatitis B e-antigen (HBeAg)is an HBV protein that is only present during an active HBV infection. This test determines how contagious you are. Testing for this antigen can also be used to monitor the effectiveness of treatment for HBV.