Laboratory tests commonly used in complementary and alternative medicine: a review of the evidence

Annals of Clinical Biochemistry
Stuart L JonesTanya Hart

Abstract

It is increasingly easy for the general public to access a wide range of laboratory tests. Tests can be ordered online with little or no input from a health professional. The complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) community promote and sell a wide range of tests, many of which are of dubious clinical significance. Many have little or no clinical utility and have been widely discredited, whilst others are established tests that are used for unvalidated purposes. They range from the highly complex, employing state of the art technology, e.g. heavy metal analysis using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry, to the rudimentary, e.g. live blood cell analysis. Results of 'CAM tests' are often accompanied by extensive clinical interpretations which may recommend, or be used to justify, unnecessary or harmful treatments. There are now a small number of laboratories across the globe that specialize in CAM testing. Some CAM laboratories operate completely outside of any accreditation programme whilst others are fully accredited to the standard of established clinical laboratories. In this review, we explore CAM testing in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia with a focus on the common tests on offer, how they ...Continue Reading

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Citations

Jul 18, 2020·Archives of Toxicology·Perrine HoetDominique Lison
Oct 17, 2021·Clinical and Experimental Dermatology·A W Y WongK E Shipman

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
Assay
MELISA
atomic emission spectroscopy
biopsy
organic acid profiling
urine collection
ELISA

Software Mentioned

MELISA

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