Laboratory medicine
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Laboratory Medicine
Laboratory medicine (pronunciation: /ˈlabrəˌtôrē ˈmedəsən/) is a medical specialty that focuses on the use of laboratory methods in the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases.
Etymology
The term "laboratory medicine" is derived from the Latin word "laboratorium" which means a place of work, and the Latin word "medicina" which means the art of healing.
Related Terms
- Clinical Pathology: A medical specialty that deals with the diagnosis of disease based on the laboratory analysis of bodily fluids, such as blood, urine, and tissue homogenates or extracts using the tools of chemistry, microbiology, hematology, and molecular pathology.
- Medical Laboratory Scientist: A healthcare professional who performs chemical, hematological, immunologic, histopathological, cytopathological, microscopic, and bacteriological diagnostic analyses on body fluids such as blood, urine, sputum, stool, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), peritoneal fluid, pericardial fluid, and synovial fluid, as well as other specimens.
- Pathology: The study of the causes and effects of disease or injury. The word pathology also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of bioscience research fields and medical practices.
- Biomedical Science: The application of biology-based science for medical use, be it research, health monitoring, diagnosis, prognosis, treatment, or therapy.
- Clinical Chemistry: The area of chemistry that is generally concerned with analysis of bodily fluids for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes.
- Hematology: The branch of medicine concerned with the study of the cause, prognosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases related to blood.
- Microbiology: The study of microscopic organisms, such as bacteria, viruses, archaea, fungi, and protozoa.
- Immunology: The branch of medicine and biology concerned with immunity.
- Molecular Pathology: A multi-disciplinary field that focuses on disease at the molecular level.
See Also
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