Monitoring hormone levels
using serum testing is useful in making sure levels are within normal range and in balance with other hormones.
If this testing seems to indicate that the disease is present, it can be confirmed
through serum testing and sometimes through muscle biopsy.
In this field, oftentimes, people are somewhat critical
of serum testing because there are some limitations here and there.
As an aside,
although serum tests often offer food panels, most veterinarians recommend food allergy assessments through specialized diet trials.
The delayed onset of symptoms and complex physiological mechanisms involved in food sensitivities make them an especially difficult puzzle to try to solve either on your own or with most
laboratory serum tests.
Practitioners using
serum testing for environmental allergens (atopy) should avoid ordering food allergy panels because clients become convinced that their pets can not tolerate foods listed as «allergens.»
Androgen metabolites (however,
new serum tests provide information on additional analytes not reported in urine testing)
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Serum tests alone can be misleading as it can measure unabsorbed B12 in the system that's just floating around, useless; check out this article for how to make sure you don't get a false result.
For reasons that escape rational thinking, conventional medicine persists in using
serum tests rather than saliva tests.
It's important to know that
traditional serum testing for magnesium isn't a good indicator of total body magnesium because your heart always needs enough magnesium to prevent spasms and so your blood levels will appear sufficient.
Blood panels are great, and we encourage you to ask your veterinarian
about serum testing for total protein, albumin, BUN, creatinine, calcium, ionized calcium, phosphorus and magnesium.
Elevated serum creatine kinase concentrations are determined through
serum tests from a blood sample.
Since bound estradiol and estrone are inactive,
serum tests do not provide feedback regarding levels of active hormone.
Intradermal testing is still considered the gold standard to identify allergens,
although serum testing is more practical in general practice.
If not, diagnostic testing options for FAD include combing for fleas, intradermal testing with flea allergen, and measurement of IgE levels
through serum testing, although this last test has less sensitivity.1 Because the absence of fleas and / or flea feces does not rule out FAD, the diagnosis is best confirmed by implementing strict flea - control measures and getting a positive patient response.
If one
uses serum testing to measure the blood levels achieved by transdermal dosing, the test will fail to measure all the hormone carried by red blood cells.
«Testing for specific IgE to foods, through either skin or
serum testing, is very helpful in diagnosing IgE - mediated food allergic reactions, but these tests should never take the place of a good history or possibly a food challenge,» said Todd D. Green, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics in the Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Allergy & Immunology at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC.