engleski

The use of saliva as a diagnostic specimen

Saliva as a diagnostic fluid can be easily obtained in medical and non-medical settings, and contains numerous bio-molecules, including those typically found in serum for disease detection and monitoring (Yeh et al, 2010). The aim of the study was to explore the clinical use of saliva as the diagnostic specimen in the literature published from January 2010 to February 2011. The search with keyword „saliva“ and limits on humans, english and published in the last 1 year was reached through PubMed website (US National Library of Medicine, National Institute of Health). Results were filtered for Diagnosis/Broad use. A total of 233 published studies included saliva as a diagnostic specimen in year 2010. One hundred and two studies used 32 different laboratory tests on salivary specimens to evaluate suspected diagnosis. The most used were the hormone tests (40%) followed by the measurements of the salivary flow, pH and buffer capacity (14%), microbiological assays (11%), determination of genomic DNA (7%) and salivary alpha amylase (6%). Additionally, there were 46 stuides about developing new clinical applications of already existing laboratory methods and 39 stuides on developing new laboratory methodology for the analisys of the saliva. The use of saliva as an alternative to blood and serum for laboratory testing is a promising and daily progressing proces. The use of saliva as a medium is well accepted and applicable in clinical diagnostics.

saliva; diagnostic fluid

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