Medical Tests & Procedures Archive

What is the test?

A Snellen test uses a chart with different sizes of letters or forms to evaluate your visual acuity-that is, the sharpness of your vision. The test shows how accurately you can see from a distance.

How do I prepare for the test?

No preparation is necessary.

What happens when the test is performed?

You stand or sit at a specific distance from the eye chart. Usually you are told to cover one eye with a cardboard piece or with your hand while you read letters with the other eye and say them out loud for the doctor.

What is the test?

Stereotactic biopsy of the breast is a special type of large core needle biopsy. It is one method of guiding the biopsy needle to the desired location in the breast. Core needle biopsy can also be guided by ultrasound or by the standard x-ray techniques used in mammography. Large core needle biopsy is often the diagnostic method of choice to evaluate abnormalities that are visible on a mammogram but cannot easily be felt by hand.

Core needle biopsy may not be suitable for women who have:

What Is It?

Sutures, commonly called stitches, are sterile surgical threads that are used to repair cuts (lacerations). They also are used to close incisions from surgery. Some wounds (from trauma or from surgery) are closed with metal staples instead of sutures.

What It's Used For

Sutures may be used to close surface wounds or deep wounds. To close a deep wound, a doctor may need to sew the two edges together layer by layer, placing and leaving some sutures under the skin surface.

What is the test?

Vaginitis is inflammation or an infection of the vagina; symptoms usually include itchiness or irritation, abnormal discharge, and an unpleasant odor. Diagnosing the cause of vaginitis involves a simple examination of the vaginal fluid under a microscope or sending the sample to a laboratory for a culture.

How do I prepare for the test?

Because douches or vaginal creams can make it hard for the doctor to interpret test results, don't use these products before the test. No other preparation is necessary.

What is the test?

A throat infection with streptococcus bacteria (called strep throat) needs to be treated with an antibiotic. A throat culture is the traditional test used for identifying streptococcus bacteria on your throat surface. Throat cultures also can identify some other bacteria that can cause sore throat.

How do I prepare for the test?

No preparation is necessary.

What happens when the test is performed?

A cotton swab is rubbed against the back of your throat to gather a sample of mucus. This takes only a second or two and makes some people feel a brief gagging or choking sensation. The mucus sample is then placed on a culture plate that helps any bacteria present in the mucus grow, so they can be examined and identified.

What Is It?

There are two types of thyroid nuclear medicine tests. Both assess the health of your thyroid, a gland in your neck. The first type, a thyroid scan, produces a picture of the gland. It can spot lumps or inflammation, or to investigate the cause of an overactive thyroid. The second type, a radioactive iodine uptake test, is performed to see if your thyroid is functioning normally and to determine why thyroid hormone levels may be elevated. For both types of test, a small amount of a weakly radioactive substance, known as a radionuclide, is either injected into a vein or given to you as a pill.

What It's Used For

A thyroid scan is usually ordered when a physical examination or laboratory finding suggests that the thyroid is enlarged or has a lump (called a thyroid nodule). If laboratory tests show an overactive thyroid, a radioactive iodine uptake test may be ordered at the same time to evaluate thyroid function.

What is the test?

Tonometry is a test to measure pressure in your eyeball. High pressure inside the eye is caused by a disease called glaucoma, which can damage your vision if it is not treated.

How do I prepare for the test?

Remove any contact lenses. Tell your doctor if you have an eye infection or other type of eye problem.

What is the test?

Video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) is a type of surgery that enables doctors to view the inside of the chest cavity after making only very small incisions. The doctor can examine the outside surface of the lung and the inner surface of the chest wall through a camera attached to the scope. Abnormal appearing areas on the lung surface can be biopsied.

VATS also provides relatively easy access to taking a biopsy of the lung.  This may be needed to diagnose the cause of abnormalities on a chest x-ray or to determine the specific infectious agent responsible for pneumonia that is not getting better on antibiotics.

What Is It?

X-rays are waves of electromagnetic radiation that are used to create images of organs and other structures inside the body. X-rays have a very short wavelength. As they penetrate the body, they are absorbed in different amounts by different body tissues. For example, bones are dense and absorb X-rays very well, but soft tissues (skin, fat, muscle) allow more X-rays to pass through. The result is an X-ray shadow on a film or fluorescent screen, where images of bones appear white, while shadows of soft tissues appear as various shades of gray.

In some forms of X-rays, a chemical called contrast medium is given to the patient to help outline a specific body area on X-ray film. This chemical can be swallowed, given as an enema or injected into a vein. The contrast medium appears white on the X-ray film, and can produce a sharp outline of structures such as the digestive tract and the paths of blood vessels.

News briefs

About half of all people in the United States living with a diagnosis of HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) are age 50 or older. But new data from the CDC suggest most Americans have never been tested for the virus (which causes AIDS, the late-stage phase of HIV infection). According to the June 28, 2019, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, less than 40% of people in the United States have had an HIV test, even though the CDC recommends routine testing at least once for everyone age 13 to 64. The CDC notes that older adults sometimes aren't tested for HIV because they don't consider themselves at risk for infection or because their health care providers don't offer them the test. Older people may also mistake late-stage HIV symptoms, such as weight loss and frequent illness, for signs of normal aging. Those symptoms occur because HIV attacks the body's immune system. But a delay in diagnosis allows the virus to cause more damage. That's unfortunate, since medications can keep the infection from progressing.

If you haven't had an HIV test, talk to your doctor about whether it's right for you, no matter your age, especially if you are sexually active or have had more than one sex partner.