Pathology plays a particularly important role in preventive medicine by ruling out diseases or detecting them early. The medical laboratory is one of the first stops in preventive medicine, which puts pathology among the most important health care services. Because it is predicted that preventive medicine will continue to become even more important in the next decade, laboratory and medical testing will be in greater demand to rule out incorrect diagnoses, to detect diseases early – in many cases before any symptoms arise, and to insure that a chosen treatment is working to the benefit of patients.