Mount Nittany Health offers walk-in lab services at several locations to make specimen collection convenient for you. View our locations here.
Pathologists, technologists and support staff work together to provide lab testing information to physicians for conditions, diagnosis of diseases and injuries.
Our pathology staff consults with physicians to determine what tests should be performed for individual patients and helps standardize screening tests, making diagnosis as cost-effective as possible. Pathologists also help providers interpret lab results.
It is important for patients to review their lab results with their physician. There are times when an abnormal value on a lab report could be expected, can be easily explained or just indicates the need for additional testing.
It is critical for all laboratory tests to be interpreted within the context of each patient's personal health history, clinical signs and symptoms; a primary care physician is the best person to provide this big-picture perspective. For this reason, all Mount Nittany Health labs require a physician's order to run any lab tests.
Additionally, while there are thousands of possible tests that can be run on a sample, we only test for the specified prescription. For example, if a physician orders a lipids test to monitor cholesterol levels, the lab will not perform other tests, like infectious disease testing.
Patients with specific testing concerns should discuss them with their physician prior to their test.
Mount Nittany Health's laboratories offer high-complexity labs on-site to provide a number of lab testing services, including:
Chemistry analysis of blood, urine and bodily fluids for management of diabetes, endocrinology disorders, fertility and pregnancy, kidney disease, liver disease, lipid (cholesterol) disorders, nutritional disorders and autoimmune disorders
Hematology analysis for monitoring Coumadin therapy, as well as diagnosing and treating blood cell disorders and coagulation disorders
Microbiology analysis
Infectious disease testing for Lyme disease, hepatitis, HIV, strep throat and syphilis — additionally, the Physician Group lab offers testing for chlamydia, gonorrhea, cytomegalovirus and toxoplasmosis
Semen analysis (available at the Medical Center lab)
Therapeutic drug monitoring for seizure disorders and heart medications
Tumor antigens (markers) for certain cancers
At the Medical Center's fully accredited laboratory, specialists provide a number of additional services, including:
Autopsy pathology
Transfusion services (blood banking)
Surgical pathology services, including tissue analysis for diagnostics
Cytology services, including processing Pap smears submitted by physicians and fine needle aspiration cytology
Any lab tests that cannot be performed here are available through partner reference laboratories, so all your testing needs are covered.