[What is expected of clinical tests in the future?].

I have described my interest in the field of clinical pathology since my undergraduate and graduate-training in Japan and also my concern about clinical pathology since my study in the United States of America. I have also presented a brief history of the Japanese Society of Clinical Pathology since it was organized in 1958. There are many laboratory tests which give some burden or invasive effects to the client. They have been done without paying much concern about the client and the quality of life of the client has not been widely considered. Although the secondary preventive medicine referred to as "the human dock" medical examination has widely spread throughout Japan in recent years, the primary preventive medicine, such as risk appraisal has not been strongly emphasized. In the future it must be considered more widely. Assessment of the laboratory data has been changing to put much emphasis on individual standard values. We must be very careful in evaluating the data of individual clients. This is very important when we deal with the elderly, whose diagnosis should be made with minimum laboratory studies. In the future clinical epidemiology and clinical decision analysis must be widely adapted in the field of practice of clinical pathology, so that the health care system will be efficiently working in all countries of the world.