This book builds on the highly successful first edition, providing a concise description of all common laboratory tests available in medical practice with notes on their application, the accuracy of each test, the historical background to the adoption of various tests and their effectiveness in diagnosis. It will be an essential primary reference source for everyone working in a clinical laboratory. The text benefits from the use of clear headings, tables, flowcharts and pathology slides, the majority of which are in full colour. The aim of the Editors has been to provide an accessible reference book in which easy access of information is of primary importance. They succeeded in the first edition, as was apparent from the reviews, and the format has been repeated. All the chapters have been updated and new material has been introduced to cover recently developed techniques, such as fluid-based cytology, telepathology and proteomics. This book will be essential reading for pathologists, biomedical scientists, medical laboratory scientific officers and all clinicians involved in laboratory research. Reviews of first edition: "The text is concise, wide-ranging and easy to digest. The ease of extraction of the important facts make it an ideal source of information for use in a variety of situations from the postgraduate examination to the clinical directors' board meeting." Dr Andrea Chapman, Dr Bernard Croal, Dr Richard Hobson and Dr Laura Munro, Bulletin of The Royal College of Pathologists "The editors have done a marvellous job, more than fulfilling their stated aim of producing a volume describing the multidisciplinary state of modern pathology which will be of interest to a wide range of readers. ... I was particularly impressed by the many tables and flow charts, which can be used as aids to decision making." DM Barnes, Journal of Clinical Pathology "This is an excellent book to dip into and get a feel for techniques used in the other disciplines of pathology." G McCreanor, Annals of Clinical Biochemistry