Laboratory Services

The Lab at Carolina Internal Medicine is a Certified Moderate-Complexity Lab licensed by the Commission on Office Lab Accreditation (COLA) in conjunction with Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA).

Our Lab Staff is certified by the American Society of Clinical Pathologists (ASCP). The lab employs 3 Medical Lab Technicians and multiple Phlebotomists.

CIMA is a fully automated laboratory, utilizing analyzers such as the Ortho Clinical Vitros 5600 Chemical Analyzer and the Horiba Pentra Hematology Analyzer

Laboratory Services Provided:

Chemistry:

CIMA performs the majority of our lab testing on site. We offer routine testing such as Complete Metabolic Panel, Basic Metabolic Panel and Lipid Panel. We are able to test for Cardiac Enzyme Levels, Thyroid Levels and Vitamin Levels. One of the most requested vitamin levels that we have recently added to our test menu is Vitamin D. CIMA also performs Hemoglobin A1C’s on site, which has become the number one test for diagnosing diabetes.

Hematology:

Hematology is the study, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases related to the blood. CIMA laboratory performs automated complete blood counts which are also known as CBC’s. This is an analysis of white and red blood cells, hemoglobin levels and platelets levels. The laboratory also performs visual microscopic analysis on the blood when needed.  One unique procedure that CIMA laboratory performs is called a Therapeutic Phlebotomy. Therapeutic phlebotomy is the preferred treatment for reducing iron stores in hemochromatosis patients. This procedure is done to reduce elevated blood iron levels and requires collecting a unit of blood from the patient and discarding.

Additional Testing:

CIMA also offers other testing that includes COVID-19, Strep A, Infulenza A&B, and stool studies.  The lab performs fecal occult blood testing via an immunoassay analyzer which is more accurate and can detect minute amounts of blood in the stool.  This testing is used to screen for colon cancer, detect Gastrointestinal (GI) bleeds and GI disorders.

Please note: Testing that is not ran on site but is needed to aid the doctor in diagnosis is sent to a reference lab.  CIMA has multiple reference labs that are utilized to accommodate the doctor and patients needs.

Hours of operation: 7:30 a.m. thru 4:30 p.m. Monday thru Friday

Effective Immediately, Carolina Internal Medicine Physicians will no longer require patients to fast for lab work.

“Fasting Isn’t Required Before Lipid Levels Are Measured”

Predictive value for adverse cardiovascular events is as good, and sometimes better, for nonfasting levels.

 In this evidence-based clinical review, the author identified three meta-analyses and five clinical practice guidelines that addressed whether fasting was required to measure lipid levels accurately and whether prediction of incident cardiovascular disease (CVD) events differed between fasting and nonfasting lipid levels.

The reviewer came to the following conclusions:

• Nonfasting testing results in clinically insignificant changes compared with fasting results in total, high-density, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels and in only modest changes in triglyceride levels.
• Nonfasting and fasting lipid levels are as least equally predictive for adverse CVD events; nonfasting levels sometimes were more strongly predictive, presumably because nonfasting is the predominant metabolic condition for most people.
• Clinical practice guidelines have shifted during the past 5 years to endorse nonfasting testing in most routine circumstances.
• The recent European Atherosclerosis Society/European Federation for Laboratory Medicine guidelines recommend that, when triglyceride levels are >400mg/dL, with nonfasting testing, ordering a fasting test is appropriate (Eur Heart J 2016 Apr 26; [e-pub]).

 Mora S. Nonfasting for routine lipid testing: From evidence to action. JAMA Intern Med 2016 Apr 27; [e-pub]. (http://dx/doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2016.1979)