Home >> Tag Archives: Screening tests (See also Prenatal screening, Diagnostic assays/markers/tests/test kits)

Tag Archives: Screening tests (See also Prenatal screening, Diagnostic assays/markers/tests/test kits)

Genetics lands in primary care inboxes

June 2019—It took David Ledbetter, PhD, a mere six years or so to become a hero. Dr. Ledbetter, executive vice president and chief scientific officer, Geisinger, had helped oversee the expansion of the health system’s MyCode precision medicine project, which began as a traditional research biobank in 2007.

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ME multiplex panel: debating the tradeoffs

June 2019—Meningitis and encephalitis have been called by some the most terrifying diseases in medicine, in part because of the difficulty of diagnosing their underlying pathology. The clinical stakes of laboratory testing are high for diagnosing and treating the inflammation that meningitis/encephalitis (ME) causes within the central nervous system.

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Bladder cancer detection and surveillance: How urine cell-free DNA stacks up against cytology

June 2019—A high-throughput sequencing panel was found to be more than 90 percent sensitive in detecting urinary tumor DNA in early-stage bladder cancer and in post-treatment surveillance. The approach, reported in April in Cancer Discovery, overcomes some of the challenges urinary cell-free DNA analysis poses, said one of its developers, and is far more sensitive than cytology and cystoscopy.

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Next step? The switch from stool culture to PCR

September 2018—The advantages of moving from stool culture to a molecular platform are many: faster time to results, more accurate pathogen identification, a savings of space and staff time. For Jose Alexander, MD, D(ABMM), SM, MB(ASCP), and colleagues at Florida Hospital Orlando, another plus is being able to adhere to the Infectious Diseases Society of America guideline suggestion that labs use a diagnostic approach that can distinguish O157 from non-O157 E. coli and Shiga toxin 1 from Shiga toxin 2 E. coli.

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New molecular road map for CRC

April 2017—Molecular testing for colorectal cancer is not for the faint of heart. While that’s not news to Stan Hamilton, MD—he’s head, Division of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, and the Frederick F. Becker distinguished chair in cancer research, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center—he was reminded of this fact recently when a friend looked at the multipage molecular pathology report on his own tumor.

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For now, first still last in primary HPV testing

October 2015—Not long after the FDA approved a primary HPV screening algorithm for women age 25 and older, in April 2014, things began to stir on the Western front—specifically, in Bellingham, Wash., where Northwest Pathology is based. “We started offering it pretty much right after the FDA approved it,” says Ryan Fortna, MD, PhD, director of molecular pathology at the regional, independent anatomic pathology group.

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A laboratory on the trail of troubling TSH results

September 2014—It would be a nightmare for any laboratory professional: a misdiagnosed and mistreated patient owing to an aberrant test result. Julia C. Drees, PhD, a scientific director for chemistry at TPMG Regional Reference Laboratory, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, found herself facing that situation two years ago. She and colleague Judy Stone, PhD, then a Kaiser scientific director who is now at UCSD, discovered that faulty TSH results from their laboratory had led to multiple patients being misdiagnosed, and some even treated inappropriately.

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Algorithm for HIV testing detects more cases, more quickly

December 2013—Screening to detect HIV infection is poised to make a leap into the 21st century. In his presentations on the proposed new screening algorithm, Bernard M. Branson, MD, points out that in 1989, when the now outmoded algorithm was recommended, the telephone booth was a common sight and the “portable” computer was the size of a small suitcase. Dr. Branson, associate director for laboratory diagnostics in the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also points out that 1989 was the year of the dismantling of the Berlin Wall and the Tiananmen Square massacre.

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