The Oklahoma Blood Institute was the first blood center in the nation to perform total cholesterol testing for every blood donor with every blood donation beginning in 1986. Total cholesterol testing measures the level of fats in your blood. It does not require fasting but is impacted by what a person has eaten in the three weeks prior to testing. Recent medical data suggests that a total cholesterol level of less than 170 mg is better at preventing first time heart attacks or recurrent heart attacks. It is important that additional testing is performed to evaluate other cholesterol lipid parameters.
Lipids are the free fatty acid fractions in the blood, including cholesterol and triglycerides.
When further cholesterol testing is performed then HDL, LDL and VLDL are measured. Elevation of lipids is clearly associated with a higher and accelerated rate of arteriosclerotic heart disease and vascular disease which results in heart attacks, strokes and decreased circulation in critical organs and areas of the body such as the lower extremities. If your cholesterol level is consistently elevated or severely elevated even once you should see your physician for evaluation and further testing. Because this is not a routine test that OBI performs on blood donations, a nominal fee is charge to cover the expense of the test. The PSA test measures the levels of PSA in blood.