Laboratory parameters of the 1st order – obligatory laboratory tests.
- Small blood count
- Inflammatory parameters – CRP (C-reactive protein).
- D-dimers – acute diagnosis of suspected fresh venous thrombosis/pulmonary embolism (see also under “Physical examination“: Wells score for determining the clinical probability of venous thrombosis, DVT).
- Electrolytes (blood salts) – calcium, sodium, potassium, magnesium, phosphate.
- Renal parameters – urea, creatinine, cystatin C or creatinine clearance, if necessary.
- Total protein
- INR (International Normalized Ratio)
- Fasting glucose (fasting blood glucose), HbA1c
- TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone; hormone that regulates thyroid hormones (T3, T4)).
Laboratory parameters 2nd order – depending on the results of the history, physical examination, etc. – for differential diagnostic clarification.
- Urine status (rapid test for: Nitrite, protein, hemoglobin, erythrocytes, leukocytes, urobilinogen) incl. sediment, if necessary, urine culture (pathogen detection and
- NT-proBNP (N-terminal pro brain natriuretic peptide) – if heart failure (cardiac insufficiency) is suspected; in acute dyspnea (shortness of breath): NT-proBNP obligatory parameter.
- Thyroid parameters – TSH, fT3, fT4 – suspected hypothyroidism (hypothyroidism).
- Liver parameters – alanine aminotransferase (ALT, GPT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST, GOT), glutamate dehydrogenase (GLDH) and gamma-glutamyl transferase (gamma-GT, GGT), alkaline phosphatase, bilirubin.
- Dexamethasone short test / dexamethasone inhibition test (search / exclusion diagnostics) – if Cushing’s disease is suspected.
- Dexamethasone long test/Dexamethasone high-dose inhibition test (confirmation test) – for suspected Cushing’s disease.
- Cortisol daily profile – if Cushing’s disease is suspected.
- Cortisol in 24 h urine – in suspected Cushing’s disease.
- Albumin [hypalbuminemia/reduced concentration of the plasma protein albumin in blood plasma; < 2 g/dl) – in malnutrition (malnutrition), exudative enteropathy (gastrointestinal/gastrointestinal protein loss) due to, among others. a. Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, celiac disease and Whipple’s disease; hepatic / liver-related (eg, liver failure, liver cirrhosis) or in nephrotic syndrome.
- Blood culture – in septicemia (blood poisoning) due toerysipelas (non-purulent infection of the skin and subcutaneous tissue, which in the predominant case by ß-hemolytic group A streptococci).
- Aldosterone – in suspected secondary hyperaldosteronism (disease in which the steroid hormone aldosterone is formed in excess) with salt and water retention in the presence of the underlying disease liver cirrhosis.