Chemical substances and/or antibodies in your blood reveal how well muscles, organs and other parts of the body are working. Abnormal levels of electrolytes (potassium, sodium, chloride) or fluctuating hormones can point to a variety of conditions, from kidney failure to heart conditions. Antibodies in your blood serum could mean your body has mounted an immune response to a virus or to itself, in the case of lupus or other autoimmune diseases. How your blood is functioning may also be examined, from platelet function to the health of your bone marrow.

At NorthShore, the Chemistry, Immunology and Hematology Laboratory perform the vast majority of clinical testing that comes through the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. Our specialized laboratories feature:

• A diverse test menu, from the most common test panels to the esoteric such as antibody tests for connective tissue disorders like rheumatoid arthritis or protein electrophoresis to monitor cancers such as multiple myeloma. Our extensive test catalog ensures we can accommodate almost every testing request in-house and on site for timely reporting of results.
• Highly-automated testing for efficient handling of specimens, consistent analytic performance and trustworthy results.Using state-of-the-art technology, we recently installed a top-of- the-line chemistry automation system from Roche Diagnostics that precisely aliquots, stores and retrieves specimens.
• Skilled board-certified specialists and laboratory technologists, who drive all aspects of quality chemistry, immunology and hematology testing—from specimen management to expert interpretation of test results.