Occult blood and pregnancy testing

What is fecal occult defined as?

Presence of hidden or unseen blood in the stool which can be detected by performing the fecal occult blood test.

If there is a large amount of fecal blood it can be readily identified how?

Macroscopically

Lower GI bleeds are what color?

Bright red

Lower GI bleeds would be what color?

Dark or mahogany

Fecal blood is frequent and early sign of what?

Colorectal cancer

What must patient be instructed to do before testing for fecal blood?

• Meat free for 3 days

• High fiber

• How many test cards should the patient take home?

• How many samples over how many days

• 3

• 3 samples over 3 days

How long should you wait before developing to allow adequate time for sample penetration.

3 to 5 mins

How many drops of hemoccult developer should be applied over each smear?

2

Results must be read within how long?

60 seconds

What are the teat results for fecal occult?

Positive is blue

Negative has no color

What is the HCG test?

Urine or serum pregnancy testing used to confirm pregnancy by detection of the hormone Human Chorionic Gondotropic

• What is HCG hormone?

• What is it essential for?

• Hormone produced by the placenta from the earliest stage of fetus development

• Maintaining pregnancy

What conditions also produce more amounts of HCG?

• Trophoblastic tumors in men

• Beginning of menopause

• Cyst like moles (hydatidiform)

What are the two types of HCG test?

Quantitative and and Qualitative

What is quantitative HCG used for?

• Estimate gestational age

• Diagnose early pregnancy