Routine exams are increasingly decisive in applying the most appropriate medical management of various pathologies.
However, currently, laboratory analyzes contemplate a wide range of possibilities that support medical professionals to detect metabolic alterations, diagnose diseases in early stages and analyze the need for investigation or treatment.
See now which exams you should take and what they are for.
When to do the Routine Exams?
Depending on your health status, there may be changes in the routine tests ordered and the frequency with which they are performed. However, in general, the ideal is that they be done, at least six groups of tests, once a year. Check out which are the main ones.
Main routine exams
hormonal
Abnormal levels of free thyroxine (free T4) and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) can indicate hypothyroidism, which can impair important bodily functions such as mood, energy level and overall metabolism. It is also worth adding, in the case of a check up for women, female hormones such as estrogen and progesterone.
In the case of male check-up, it is important to check testosterone and perform a prostate analysis using free and total PSA, especially after 50 years of age.
Complete blood count
The complete blood count, which quantifies blood cells, i.e. white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets. Abnormal levels of these components can indicate nutritional deficiency, clotting problems, infections, immune system disorders and even leukemia.
lipids
This exam checks the good cholesterol it's the bad cholesterol🇧🇷 High-density lipoprotein is good because it removes harmful substances from the blood and helps the liver to break them down into waste. Low-density lipoprotein is bad because it can cause plaque to build up in the arteries, increasing your risk of heart disease.
Routine tests to detect sexually transmitted infections
Testing for sexually transmitted infections such as hepatitis, HIV and syphilis, among others, is highly recommended. There must be a laboratory analysis for the detection of the HIV virus, as if there is any suspicion of infection and if the initial test is negative, a repeat test should be indicated after 30 days to really be sure that everything is correct.
basic metabolic panel
It is a test that analyzes sodium, potassium, calcium, glucose, urea and creatinine. So depending on the changes can indicate kidney disease, diabetes or hormonal imbalances.
Being able to have a complete analysis can also be considered through a comprehensive metabolic panel, which has measurements of serum proteins through an alanine aminotransferase, electrophoresis, bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase and aspartate aminotransferase.
When you have high levels of these last enzymes, it can indicate liver dysfunctions such as liver cancer, cirrhosis and hepatitis.
IgG, IgA and IgM
After the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, there was an increase in the frequency of other viral infections. As a result, the number of cancer cases has increased. Therefore, a sixth group of exams to assess the immune system has become important in the annual check-up.
A white blood cell count is performed, but the quantification of serum IgG, IgA and IgM levels are important for assessing the humoral response. In the same way, we can analyze the immunological memory with the search for antibodies to frequent infections, such as infectious mononucleosis, toxoplasmosis, hepatitis A, B and C.
