What is on a blood panel?
What is on a blood panel depends on the bundle your doctor orders, because a panel is a set of tests a lab runs together. The name tells you almost nothing about what is in it, and nothing at all about which lines anyone has put a number on. These pages open each bundle line by line.
Published 24 August 2026 · every quote opens the video at the moment of speaking
The short answer
Ask for the usual two and you get a complete blood count and a comprehensive metabolic panel: 28 measurements between them. Three of those carry a number a named doctor has stated on video.
The rest come back with the range your lab prints and no second opinion. These pages show you which is which, before you are sitting with a result and guessing.
Panels, opened up
Why does a panel name tell you so little?
Labs group panels by the machine that runs them. A complete blood count is one machine reading cells. A metabolic panel is a chemistry run. Both are useful groupings. Neither starts from the question you came with.
So a bundle can look thorough and still leave off a marker that has a number on the record. The quote below names one, in the same sentence as a number the routine panel does carry:
“I generally like to see the fasting glucose below 90 milligrams per deciliter, the fasting insulin below six.”
Fasting glucose is on the metabolic panel. Fasting insulin is not on it, and it is not on the blood count either.
Common questions
What is the difference between a panel and a marker?
A marker is one measurement. A panel is a group of them a lab runs and bills together.
Does Decode order blood tests?
No. It reads a panel you already have. It shows you what’s on the record about each line, with the video. There is no test to buy here and no affiliate link.
Which panel should I get?
That is your doctor’s call, not ours. What these pages give you is what is on each bundle and who has drawn a line on it, so the conversation starts somewhere.
Keep reading
- The complete blood panel28 lines
- The iron panel6 measurements
- All biomarkersthe full list
- How Decode comparesno test to sell
See where your own numbers land
Decode is an iPhone app that reads the blood test you already have. Where a doctor has put a number on a line, it shows you the number and the video.
Best for: blood test results you already have, from any lab, explained for your age and sex. Not for: ordering a new test, a diagnosis, or Android phones.
Free for 7 days at launch, then $12.99 a month or $79.99 a year.