Medical Glossary

A flag meaning a result differs from what the laboratory or test expected — not a statement about your health.

The main protein in your blood, made by the liver. It helps keep fluid inside your blood vessels.

An enzyme found mainly in liver cells. It leaks into the blood when the liver is irritated or damaged.

A condition where you don't have enough healthy red blood cells or haemoglobin to carry oxygen around your body.

An enzyme found in the liver, muscle and other tissues. It rises when these tissues are irritated or damaged.

A yellow substance made when old red blood cells are broken down. The liver processes it and removes it in bile.

A waste product from normal muscle activity that the kidneys filter out of your blood.

A protein made by the liver that rises when there is inflammation somewhere in the body.

An estimate of how well your kidneys are filtering blood, calculated from your creatinine.

A result sitting in a borderline zone where the test cannot give a clear positive or negative answer.

A protein that stores iron in your body. Ferritin levels are used to estimate your total iron stores.

The protein inside red blood cells that carries oxygen from your lungs to the rest of your body.

A blood test that reflects your average blood sugar level over the past 2–3 months.

Often called 'good' cholesterol because it helps remove other cholesterol from your blood.

The area visible down a microscope at high magnification, used as the unit when cells are counted by eye.

A result that falls inside the reference range printed by the laboratory for that test.

A short free-text note added by the laboratory to explain, qualify or advise on a result.

Often called 'bad' cholesterol because high levels can build up in artery walls over time.

The smallest amount of a substance a test can reliably tell apart from nothing at all.

The smallest amount of a substance a test can measure with acceptable precision, as opposed to merely detect.

The average size of your red blood cells.

The average size of your platelets, calculated automatically as part of a full blood count.

The substance or organism the test looked for was not found at a level the test can measure.

Used in microbiology to say that a particular organism did not grow in the culture from your sample.

A result that falls above or below the reference range printed by the laboratory for that test.

Small cells that help your blood clot when you cut or injure yourself.

A preliminary result is a result that has been reported before the reporting process is fully complete. It may later be confirmed, updated or replaced by a final result.

A red cell index, reported with a full blood count, describing how much your red blood cells vary in size.

The cells in your blood that carry oxygen. They contain haemoglobin, which does the actual oxygen carrying.

The band of values a laboratory expects to see in most healthy people tested in the same way.

A field on a laboratory or medical report showing how far the report has got in the testing and reporting process — for example preliminary, final or amended.

A field showing the stage a report has reached. Where the HL7 result status codes are used, F means "final results; results stored and verified".

A hormone made by the pituitary gland that tells the thyroid how much thyroid hormone to produce.

A waste product formed when your body breaks down protein. The kidneys filter it out of your blood.

A vitamin that helps your body absorb calcium and keep bones and muscles healthy. A blood test usually measures 25-hydroxyvitamin D.

The cells that fight infection and help the immune system respond to illness.