London Diabetes Centre protocol

Height, Weight, Blood Pressure

Glycated hemoglobin is an analysis of your blood taken via finger prick. This measurement gives us information about your average blood sugar values in the past 8-12 weeks.

A random blood glucose test measures the amount of a sugar called glucose in a sample of your blood that is taken via finger prick.

This is a urine test which measures albumin leakage in the urine, a sensitive test for early kidney involvement in diabetes.

• Full Blood Count, this is a test to check the types and numbers of cells in your blood, including red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. This can help give an indication of your general health, as well as provide important indications about any underlying health problems you may have.
• ESR, or erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), is a blood test that can reveal inflammatory activity in your body. It can help your doctor diagnose or monitor the progress of an inflammatory disease.
• Fasting Lipids, this calculates the amount of bad cholesterol, called the LDL cholesterol or low density cholesterol, the good HDL or high density cholesterol and the triglyceride. It is the most common way of making an assessment of the risk for stroke and heart attached in people with diabetes.
• Full Biochemistry, this metabolic panel measures sodium, potassium, chloride, bicarbonate, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), magnesium, iron, creatinine, glucose, and calcium.
• Vitamin D2 and D3, Vitamin D is essential for bones, for cardiovascular health and as a protection for statin side effects. This test measures the level of vitamin D in the blood.
• Fasting Insulin or c peptide, gives your doctor a measure of your sensitivity to insulin and whether you are deficient in this essential hormone. Sequential results are very useful.
• PSA (if male > 55yrs), the PSA test is one of the blood tests to screen for prostate enlargement or prostate cancer.
• Ferritin, high levels of ferritin can indicate an iron storage disorder, such as hemochromatosis, or a chronic disease process. Low levels of ferritin are indicative of iron deficiency, which causes anaemia.

Carotid intima–media thickness and 3D plaque information can aid prediction of coronary heart disease and stroke risk when added to traditional risk factors. Our latest 3D probe, the first in Europe, enables us to now obtain volume quantification of plaque enlargement. Done regularly every two years, the test enables the doctor to assess adequacy of treatment and progression or regression of arterial thickening. The test is safe and painless and involves no radiation as it is done with an ultrasound machine.