Special issue: Quality in laboratory diagnostics: from theory to practice

The che mi cal, physi cal and mor pho lo gic uri ne exa mi na tion has un der go ne ra di cal chan ges over the la st few yea rs, so that the ti me has co me for intro du ci ng fur ther chan ges and mo di 2 ca tio ns in va rious ste ps of this im por ta nt te st. The break throug hs of new tec hno lo gies ha ve al lowed ma ki ng the la bo ra to ry re po rt mu ch mo re in for ma ti ve for the sta ke hol de rs. Ne ver the le ss, im por ta nt con si de ra tio ns for im pro vi ng the qua li ty throug hout the tes ti ng pro ce ss we re al so rai sed, es pe cial ly in the prea na lyti cal pha se. Cur ren tly, it mig ht be ad vi sab le to pur sue con so li da tion and stan dar di za tion of the ana lyti cal pha se, as we ll as re de 2 ni tion of cli ni cal tar ge ts throu gh con struc tion of a com ple te, in teg ra ted and mu ch mo re cli ni cal ly mea nin gful re po rt. This ar tic le ai ms to re view the sta te of the art in uri na lysis, as we ll as pro vi di ng use ful in for ma tion for ac hie vi ng mo re stan dar di za tion and qua li ty of this use ful diag nos tic te st.