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FAQs
Lab Tests have become a very important and powerful diagnostic tool for doctors – may it be risk assessment, confirming his clinical judgment, diagnosing infections, cancers, treatment follow up or effect of drugs or hormone imbalance etc. In short we all will need lab test some time or the other. In this web page, we have tried our best to give you correct general information. Some information may vary depending on the protocol followed by the laboratory you may visit.
The post lunch sugar test is done at 2 hours of starting your regular lunch. For eg. If Mr. Koirala has started his lunch at 12.00 noon he needs to complete his blood collection at 2.00 pm. Mr. Koirala will be required to reach the lab at 1.35 pm, i.e. 25 minutes early to avoid registration delays. Also Mr. Koirala cannot have any food after finishing his lunch for 2 hours. He can have water and his medicines.
Stay hydrated and drink plenty of water. Take any medication that your doctor prescribed to you except for corticosteroids, estrogen or androgens, oral contraceptives, some diuretics, anti-psychotic medications including haloperidol, some antibiotics and niacin. Please consult your doctor for confirmation. Try and take early morning appointment for your test and after performing the blood draw for your test, you can take these prescribed medicine. Do not smoke, drink any other liquid than water or exercise during your fast. Even chewing gum is off-. Any of these elements can adversely affect your test results.
After completing your registration(15-20 minutes) it usually takes 20-40 minutes for completing your blood draw. But depending on your test requirements, the time may vary. In case you have additional post-lunch blood tests, you may have to come back to the lab. If you have additional ECG, X-ray and other imaging tests, the usual time taken may be 30 minutes to 2.5 hours. For health check-up you may usually spend upto 1-2 hour in the morning and 1-2 hour in the afternoon at the lab. For some tests like FNAC, 4D and health check-ups, a prior appointment is necessary.
Usually for the common tests done, the test reports will be available on the same day evening. For special tests like microbiology cultures, many immunoassay tests, histopathology tests, etc. the reports will be available after longer durations.
In general there is no recommended age for health check-up. Health check-up is recommended for all adults from age of 18 years onwards, at least annually. We also have 2 plans for kids and young adults. Most of the health check-ups today will include:
Common blood tests like CBC, Blood sugar, Urine & Stool routine examination
Preventive test check-up panels assessing risk of certain disease e.g. heart disease, cancer
Assess general status of important organs like liver, kidney and thyroid gland
Diabetes monitoring
Radiology tests like X-ray chest/Sonography of abdomen and ECG check-up
Check for nutritional deficiencies
Hormone test do not require fasting. The baseline level for most of the hormones in the body is in the morning. Though majority of these tests can be done at any time, morning time is preferred. Some tests like Cortisol, Insulin, etc. may have to be done at the exact time prescribed by your doctor.
The common test for detecting thyroid gland problem is called Thyroid function test which includes
Free T3, Free T4 and TSH(Thyroid Stimulating Hormone) tests or
Total T3, Total T4 and TSH(Thyroid Stimulating Hormone) tests.
These tests can detect wether you have hypo-thyroidism(Slow working thyroid gland) or Hyper-thyroidism(Fast working thyroid gland). Also the Thyroid antibodies test is useful to rule out autoimmune thyroid problems.
In case you wish to screen yourself for HIV infection the usual screening test is called HIV sceening test.
Vitamin B12 is one of the important vitamins of the Vitamin B complex. It’s deficiency leads to Hematological or blood abnormalities and Neurogical (Nerves) abnormalities.
Vitamin D is not only important for bones but is now also been shown to take some part in autoimmune disease, heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes.
In Nepal, India and other Asian countries, the deficiency of Vitamin B12 and Vitamin D is very common and widespread. Hence it is important for you to detect these deficiencies and take corrective steps.
Clean plastic container for these tests are provided by the laboratory. It is always preferable to collect urine/stool samples in these containers rather than using home cleaned containers. For urine and stool culture test lab will provide special sterile containers.
In case of urine routine and culture tests the best sample for testing is the morning urine sample. The urine is collected after cleaning private parts and allowing some initial urine to pass(Mid-Stream urine sample).In case you have symptoms of Urinary tract infection like fever, burning pain, increased frequency of urination- urine spot sample can also be collected for testing. 50 ml or more of urine should be collected for testing whenever possible. Test samples should be transported to the lab as soon as possible within one hour of collection.