A medical test is a medical procedure performed to detect, diagnose, or monitor diseases, disease processes, susceptibility, or to determine a course of treatment. Medical tests such as, physical and visual exams, diagnostic imaging, genetic testing, chemical and cellular analysis, relating to clinical chemistry and molecular diagnostics, are typically perfo

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A medical test is a medical procedure performed to detect, diagnose, or monitor diseases, disease processes, susceptibility, or to determine a course of treatment. Medical tests such as, physical and visual exams, diagnostic imaging, genetic testing, chemical and cellular analysis, relating to clinical chemistry and molecular diagnostics, are typically performed in a medical setting.

Types of tests

By purpose

Medical tests can be classified by their purposes, including diagnosis, screening or monitoring.

Diagnostic

A diagnostic test is a procedure performed to confirm or determine the presence of disease in an individual suspected of having a disease, usually following the report of symptoms, or based on other medical test results.[1][2] This includes posthumous diagnosis. Examples of such tests are:

  • Using nuclear medicine to examine a patient suspected of having a lymphoma.
  • Measuring the blood sugar in a person suspected of having diabetes mellitus after periods of increased urination.
  • Taking a complete blood count of an individual experiencing a high fever to check for a bacterial infection.[1]
  • Monitoring electrocardiogram readings on a patient with chest pain to diagnose or determine any heart irregularities.[3]
Screening Main article: Screening (medicine)

Screening refers to a medical test or series of tests used to detect or predict the presence of disease in at-risk individuals within a defined group such as a population, family, or workforce.[4][5] Screenings may be performed to monitor disease prevalence, manage epidemiology, aid in prevention, or strictly for statistical purposes.[6]

Examples of screenings include measuring the level of TSH in the blood of a newborn infant as part of newborn screening for congenital hypothyroidism,[7] checking for Lung cancer in non-smoking individuals who are exposed to second-hand smoke in an unregulated working environment, and Pap smear screening for prevention or early detection of cervical cancer.[citation needed]

Monitoring Main article: Monitoring (medicine)

Some medical tests are used to monitor the progress of, or response to medical treatment.

By method

Most test methods can be classified into one of the following broad groups:

  • Patient observations, which may be photographed or recorded
  • Questions asked when taking an individual's medical history
  • Tests performed in a physical examination
  • Radiologic tests, in which, for example, x-rays are used to form an image of a body target. These tests often involve administration of a contrast agent.
  • In vivo diagnostics which test in the body, such as:
    • Manometry[8]
    • Administering a diagnostic agent and measuring the body's response, as in the gluten challenge test, contraction stress test, bronchial challenge test, oral food challenge, or the ACTH stimulation test.
  • In vitro diagnostics which test a sample of tissue or bodily fluids,[9][10] such as:
    • Liquid biopsy
    • Microbiological culturing, which determines the presence or absence of microbes in a sample from the body, and usually targeted at detecting pathogenic bacteria.
    • Genetic testing
    • Blood sugar level[11]
    • Liver function testing[12]
    • Calcium testing[12]
    • Testing for electrolytes in the blood, such as sodium, potassium, creatinine, and urea[13]