A comprehensive array of testing services
The Clinical Biochemistry Laboratory provides an extensive range of testing services to all medical center departments and clinics, other hospitals, HMOs, the army, individuals, and research institutions. The lab also provides testing for research laboratories and skilled researchers at the Medical Center.
Lab research studies are conducted by hospital staff and Tel Aviv University master’s degree students in collaboration with laboratory management. The lab also develops and perfects unique laboratory testing methods.
Accredited quality
The Clinical Biochemistry Laboratory meets the requirements of the Israeli ISO 9001 quality standard and is supervised by the Standards Institution of Israel.
Routine and stat testing
The Clinical Biochemistry Laboratory’s sophisticated, automated operations support both routine and urgent testing. The lab’s efficient systems enable routine testing for more than 30 different tests using only a single tube of blood.
The routine tests performed in the three testing units are itemized on this website.
The Routine Testing Unit performs standard specialized blood tests, such as:
- Zinc blood levels
- Lithium psychiatric drug levels
- Pseudo choline esterase test for organophosphate poisoning
- Blood test lipase test: this test is better for diagnosing pancreatitis than the amylase test
- Blood digoxin level
- Acetaminophen drug level blood monitoring
- Gentamicin blood level monitoring
- Cardiovascular disease risk factors and HDL cholesterol monitoring. Wide Range C-creactive protein (wr-CRP) levels can help diagnose an infection. Low levels of the protein indicate risk of cardiovascular disease. A level below 2 mg per liter indicates low risk, 2-3 mg per liter show moderate risk, and 3-5 mg per liter point to high risk.
Urgent (Stat) Test Unit
This unit is uniquely designed to accept and process individual laboratory samples immediately upon arrival to provide quick results to the requesting department. The system that performs the tests gives priority to submissions by the Urgent Test Unit to ensure that the results are obtained as quickly as possible. During regular operation, the system can provide results within 40 minutes from sample arrival. If the system is not functioning, the manual result-generation response time is longer.
Special Testing Unit
The unit’s objective is to identify, measure and monitor a wide array of drugs and metabolites in the blood and/or urine for clinical purposes – relying on advanced analytical instrumentation.
The Special Testing Unit performs high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), which is the most accurate testing method available and requires skilled personnel. These high quality tests are important for major diagnostics:
- Catecholamine blood and urine tests to diagnose pheochromocytoma
- 5-hydroxy indole acetic acid in the urine to diagnose carcinoids
- Serotonin in the blood to diagnose carcinoids
- Homovanillic acid test to diagnose neuroblastoma diagnosis, a condition primarily in newborns and infants
In collaboration with Medical Center doctors and researchers, the unit researches and develops special testing methods, such as measuring thiopurine metabolite levels, TPMT (thiopurine methyltransferase) enzyme activity and more:
- AFP (alpha-fetoprotein or α-fetoprotein)
- CA-125
- CA-15.3
- CA-72.4
- CEA (carcinoembryonic antigen)
- CA 19-9 (carbohydrate antigen)
- PSA (prostate specific antigen): both total and free
Drug-level monitoring
- Amikacin
- Tricyclic antidepressants
- Benzodiazepines (urine)
- Barbiturates (urine)
- Valproic acid
- Tacrolimus (such as Prograf)
- Methotrexate
- Salicylates
- Phenobarbital
- Phenytoin
- Primidone
- Cyclosporine
- Quinidine
- Carbamazepine
- Theophylline
Metabolic tests
- Apo A (apolipoprotein A)
- Apo B( apolipoprotein B)
- G-6PD (glucose 6 – phosphate dehydrogenase)
- HbA1C (hemoglobin A1C type)
- LP(a) (lipoprotein a)
- Lactate
- Hemoglobin electrophoresis
Special biochemical tests
- Zinc (urine or semen)
- Lactate dehydrogenase isoenzymes (LDH-ISO)
- Alkaline phosphatase isoenzymes (ISO-ALP)
- Creatine phosphatase isoenzymes (ISO-CPK)
- Sweat conductivity test (to diagnose cystic fibrosis - CF)
- Copper (blood and urine)
General urine tests
- Automated urine chemistry
- Urinary sediment microscopy
- Reducing substances
- Bladder stones
More test details are in the lab test catalog.