[Laboratory medicine, my philosophy and prospect]

I have been working in the field of laboratory medicine for 45 years including the period of working as a physician. During my career, some of my dreams in laboratory diagnosis have been realized, and some have not. Although the issues changed with time, our basic philosophy has not changed at all. In this session, I would like to discuss "my philosophy of laboratory medicine", that is, what I have intended and what I have done. First, I describe the role of laboratory medicine in the field of clinical medicine. Second, I discuss the value of laboratory tests especially for clinical diagnostics. Third, I summarize the history of clinical pathology with reflection of the past, and my anticipation for the future. Fourth, I mention about the task and responsibility of the laboratory technicians and clinical pathologists, in view of their common purpose, clinical diagnosis. Finally, I discuss the future aspect of laboratory medicine.