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This website is specifically designed for the Australian healthcare consumer. When you need up-to-date and reliable information about laboratory tests and how they are used Lab Tests Online Australasia (LTO^AU) is the place to look.

The information and material on this website should not be used as a substitute for advice from your healthcare provider. Note also that funding of pathology testing in Australia is complex and not all test costs are covered by Medicare.

This site is based on the extremely popular Lab Tests Online^US and Lab Tests Online^UK sites but contains information that has been customised for the Australian scene.

A group of pathologists and senior laboratory scientists have worked to ensure that all the information on this site is accurate and helpful.

For information on how to use the site see features and services for guidance.

The site map also shows the layout of the background information on the site but the TESTS, CONDITIONS/DISEASES and SCREENING databases accessed through the drop-down menus at the top of each page are the heart of the site. Click on the test you are interested in, read the information there and then follow the links to more information relevant to your enquiry.

The diagnosis and treatment of men with prostate cancer is a very difficult area. The tools we currently have for diagnosis of prostate cancer such as measurement of PSA and digital rectal examination are fairly crude and could certainly be improved. One of the problems with prostate cancer is that it exists in several forms ranging from very slow-growing tumours to aggressive tumours that expand and metastasise and are frequently fatal.

A discussion on how the internet is changing interactions between doctors and patients agreed that patients need additional resources for information and these need to be reliable. Health care professionals are seeing an increasing trend now for patients to seek information before their appointment so they go into the consultation better prepared.

Three new markers tested by a group of Austrian researchers did not add any extra benefit over measuring the traditional risk factors for coronary artery narrowing.