Dear colleagues

Chemical pathology is a branch (specialty) of medical science that is concerned with changes in body chemistry in disease conditions. It is also called clinical chemistry or clinical biochemistry. Medical biochemistry is an essential component of the curriculum for all categories of health professionals.

Chemical pathology continues to play a major role in assisting medical practitioners in making a diagnosis. In addition to being technically competent, chemical pathologists are very often involved in assisting clinical colleagues in investigating patients with various disorders. In this special edition of CME on chemical pathology, thirteen topics have been carefully chosen and experts in this area asked to write and describe simple and current ways to diagnose these disorders. These experts have been chosen from the major academic centres in South Africa. The articles are directed at general medical practitioners and written in simple text that is easy to understand. At the end of the journal questions are supplied which enable readers to assess their understanding of the subject.