Clinical and Laboratory Medicine Textbook

Doctor Marcello Ciaccio is a Full Professor of Clinical Biochemistry and Laboratory Medicine and Dean of the School of Medicine at the University of Palermo. He is the Director of the Institute of Clinical Biochemistry, Clinical Molecular Medicine and Clinical Laboratory Medicine, Department of Biomedicine, Neurosciences, and Advanced Diagnostics at the University of Palermo. He is also Director of the Department of Laboratory Medicine - A.O.U.P. Palermo “P. Giaccone”. He was Past-President (2016-2017) and President-Elect (2024-2025) of the Italian Society of Clinical Biochemistry and Clinical Molecular Biology - Laboratory Medicine (SIBioC). He is part of the Editorial Board of several peer-reviewed Journals, and he serves as a Reviewer for many prestigious Journals. He is the author of more than 400 scientific publications in national and international Journals.

1 The role of laboratory medicine in the clinical context.- 2 The laboratory diagnostic process.- 3 Elements of biomedical laboratory organization.- 4 The role of statistics in laboratory medicine.- 5 Elements of metrology.- 6 The pre-analytical phase.- 7 The quality of the laboratory result: SOURCES OF VARIABILITY, METHOD OF ASSESSMENT AND ESTIMATION OF THEIR CLINICAL IMPACT.- 8 Principles of Immunochemistry.- 9 General information on laboratory tests and biomarkers.- 10 Enzymes and their clinical use.- 11 Liver: from biochemistry to clinical biochemistry.- 12 Protein diagnostics.- 13 Biomarkers of the nutritional state.- 14 Dyslipidemia.- 15 Hematological diagnostics.- 16 Immunohematology.- 17 Hemostasis.- 18 Kidney.- 19 Physical, Chemical and morphological urine examination.- 20 Hydroelectrolytic disorders.- 21 Blood gas analysis.- 22 Cardiac biomarkers.- 23 Stroke biomarkers.- 24 Thrombophilia.- 25 Endocrine system.- 26 Diabetes mellitus: from definition to therapy.- 27  Diabetes mellitus: the role of the laboratory.- 28 Metabolic syndrome.- 29 Hypoglycemia.- 30 The role of laboratory in pregnancy.- 31 Hereditary metabolic diseases.- 32 Hyperphenylalaninemia, thyrosinemia, glycogenosis, hyperammoniemia.- 33 Circulating biomarkers in oncology: areas of application, critical issues and perspectives.- 34 Liquid biopsy.- 35 Biological fluids.- 36 Laboratory diagnostics of autoimmune diseases.- 37 Laboratory diagnostics in allergic diseases.- 38 Biomarkers of bone remodeling.- 39 Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative dementias.- 40  In vivo clinical biochemistry.- 41 Clinical biochemistry of the mind.- 42 Clinical molecular biology.- 43 Fever of unknown origin.- 44 Biomarkers of inflammation.- 45 Biomarkers of sepsis.- 46 Laboratory medicine and physical exercise.- 47 Clinical biochemistry of the physical exercise.- 48 Preoperative laboratory tests.- 49 The laboratory in urgency/emergency.- 50 Biological drugs.- 51 Mass spectrometry in clinical biochemistry and laboratory medicine.- 52 Toxicology and analytical pharmacology.- 53 Pharmacotoxicology of substances of abuse.- 54 Applications of "omics" sciences in the laboratory.- 55 Covid-19.- 56 From aging to healthy longevity: from an oxymoron to an hendiadys. Innovation in Medicine including Predictive Medicine and Laboratory Medicine approaches.- 57 Biobanks of biomedical interest.- 58 Health technology assessment in laboratory medicine.-APPENDIX A - RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE APPROPRIATE VENOUS BLOOD COLLECTION.-APPENDIX B - TABLE OF REFERENCE AND DECISIONAL VALUES OF THE MAIN BIOMARKERS.