What techniques do hospitals & laboratories use for diagnosis of diabetes?
Diabetes Diagnosis Add comments
Laboratory techniques or technologies currently in use for the detection & measurement of blood glucose, glycohemoglobin or antibodies in the diagnosis of diabetes (both Type 1 & 2)
What exactly do they use to measure glucose, HbA1c etc?
Colorimetric photometry? Biosensors? Bioassays? Some other spectrometry methods? How do these techniques work?
The most common test is the Fasting Blood Glucose test.
in this test, the patient MUST be fasting for 8-10 hours before the test. The doctor then takes a "finger stick" reading (he might take a blood sample and send it to the lab). This test is usually repeated twice, on two separate visits to the doctor.
If there are TWO fasting blood glucose reading over 120, the doctor suspects diabetes.
At this point, the doctor may also ask for a Glucose Tolerance Test (GTT). this test takes about 3-4 hours. That patient is asked to drink a really sweet liquid, andthe doctor takes many blood sample. the values from the blood samples are used to develop a "chart" showing how well the patient responds to a "slug" of sugar.
if the patient’s body responds slowly, then the patient is diabetic.
a MUCH MROE ACCURATE test is now used. this is called the A1C test. This test measures an "average" of your blood sugar of the last 90 days. You do not have to fast before this test, and you cannot "cheat" on this test by eating correctly for 2-3 days before the test.
If the test comes back "normal" then you are probably not diabetic. if you know you already are diabteic, then a NORAML reading shows that you are correctly following doctors orders.
If the A1C test comes back high, you are probably diabetic. You should start treatments right away, and repeat the A1C test in three month to see how you are progressing.
The Old School way of testing for diabetes was to take a urine sample. This is VERY inaccurate, and is no logner used for a diagnosis. the doctor may still take a urine sample, though. he may have it tested for proteinsand blood, which shows that the diabetes has started to cause kidney disease. While sugar in the urine IS a symptom of diabetes, the finger stick test, the A1C test, and the GTT will all show diabetes long before it shows up in the urine.
August 30th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
The most common test is the Fasting Blood Glucose test.
in this test, the patient MUST be fasting for 8-10 hours before the test. The doctor then takes a "finger stick" reading (he might take a blood sample and send it to the lab). This test is usually repeated twice, on two separate visits to the doctor.
If there are TWO fasting blood glucose reading over 120, the doctor suspects diabetes.
At this point, the doctor may also ask for a Glucose Tolerance Test (GTT). this test takes about 3-4 hours. That patient is asked to drink a really sweet liquid, andthe doctor takes many blood sample. the values from the blood samples are used to develop a "chart" showing how well the patient responds to a "slug" of sugar.
if the patient’s body responds slowly, then the patient is diabetic.
a MUCH MROE ACCURATE test is now used. this is called the A1C test. This test measures an "average" of your blood sugar of the last 90 days. You do not have to fast before this test, and you cannot "cheat" on this test by eating correctly for 2-3 days before the test.
If the test comes back "normal" then you are probably not diabetic. if you know you already are diabteic, then a NORAML reading shows that you are correctly following doctors orders.
If the A1C test comes back high, you are probably diabetic. You should start treatments right away, and repeat the A1C test in three month to see how you are progressing.
The Old School way of testing for diabetes was to take a urine sample. This is VERY inaccurate, and is no logner used for a diagnosis. the doctor may still take a urine sample, though. he may have it tested for proteinsand blood, which shows that the diabetes has started to cause kidney disease. While sugar in the urine IS a symptom of diabetes, the finger stick test, the A1C test, and the GTT will all show diabetes long before it shows up in the urine.
References :
August 30th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
they check your blood sugars, your a1c, and your keytones.
References :
type 1 diabetic, been in hospital for 5 months, seen it all