Catlab Reports Bulletin
The Catlab Reports Bulletin is published monthly. Until the publication of the Catlab website, it was mailed electronically to our clients. It consists of a monograph related with laboratory topics. Each month it addresses a different area of Catlab; the topics can be more specific (concrete diagnostic techniques) or deal with more generic aspects (Quality, Management, …).
QUALITY - Customer satisfaction measure in Hospitals
During the years 2016-2017, in Catlab, surveys were carried out to the different Hospital assistance groups of HUMT, FHSJDM and CST. The 8 consensual questions of the survey are related on the perception and the evaluation that the professionals of the Hospitals of the laboratory have.
MICROBIOLOGY - Diagnosis of Meningoencephalitis
Bacterial meningitis causes 120,000 deaths worldwide each year. The Catlab Microbiology area has recently incorporated a new PCR to detect in a short time the 14 microorganisms that most frequently cause meningitis, encephalitis and meningoencephalitis. It is performed in a single CSF sample and after a minimum manipulation. It allows detecting the microorganism in about 2 hours. Thus, inadequate treatments, over-treatments and improved patient management can be reduced.
URGENT CARE - Blood gases.
The measurement of the magnitudes related to the pH and the partial pressures of gases in blood (pO₂, pCO₂), are a essential instrument in the assessment of the critical patient in the Emergency Laboratories. The results reported have a great impact on patient care, since they can provoke immediate therapeutic actions. Therefore, the reliability of the report of a gasometry is fundamental, and it is necessary to control all possible sources of error, since the medical staff requests the test, the nurses performs the sampling and laboratory personnel process it .
IMMUNOLOGY - Microarray-specific IgE Detection.
Since July, we have in Catlab a Microarray to detect specific IgE. It is a miniaturized solid phase immunoassay based on modern biochip technology, where the allergic components are immobilized in a microarray. This modern technology allows the simultaneous measurement of IgE antibodies against a fixed panel of 112 components of more than 50 allergic sources (food, pollen, latex, epithelia ...), using only 30 μl of serum or plasma.
TUMOR MARKERS - New markers in prostate cancer.
Prostate cancer continues to be the most common in men, and PSA is the most commonly used marker. The low specificity of PSA in detecting cancer causes a large number of negative biopsies, and also does not help that it can not differentiate between lethal and non-lethal cancer. That is why, in recent multicenter studies, ProPSA (free PSA isoform) and phi index are being positioned as more specific markers.
BIOCHEMISTRY - Biomarkers for infection / sepsis.
The overall mortality in patients with sepsis is between 10-20%, between 20-50% in those with severe sepsis and between 40-80% in patients with septic shock. The immediate adoption of diagnostic-therapeutic decisions will directly affect the evolution, prognosis and survival, therefore, the availability of early and accurate biomarkers is key to effective clinical management of infections.
INFORMATION SYSTEMS - Lab Support Programs
Catlab has different computer support applications for the laboratory. The objective is to automate processes that were done manually or in paper, to manage them with greater speed and security, and to facilitate the accreditation of the laboratory. Some of these applications are the Catlab Incidence Program (PIC), which manages everything related to the pre-analytical incidents of Catlab, the GIN (Integral Management of Refrigerators), which is responsible to register and control the transport time of the refrigerators of the samples, or the GestLab, which manages different aspects of the data and needs of the workers.
CYTOGENETICS - Mutations in the FLT3 Gene and Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML)
The FLT 3 receptor is found in the normal hematopoietic precursors of Bone marrow, and plays a key role in cell proliferation and survival. The gene encoding the FLT3 protein is located on chromosome 13 q12, and mutations in this gene occur with a high frequency in AML patients. The most frequent mutation is internal tandem duplication (FLT3-ITD). The most common mutation is internal tandem duplication (FLT3-ITD). This mutation is a poor prognostic factor in AML, and is associated with clinical progression and relapse.
MICROBIOLOGY - Incorporation of mass spectrometry in clinical microbiology
The Catlab Microbiology area has recently incorporated an advanced technology (MALDI-TOF) to identify bacteria and fungi in a few minutes, in contrast to conventional, very slow methods. It provides advantages in the management of the patient with sepsis, since the speed of information improves the quality of health care: it decreases the duration of empirical treatment, adjusts the administration of adequate antibiotics and reduces hospitalization times.
HEMATOLOGY - Quantification of Hemoglobin S in Catlab
Hemoglobin S is a beta-globin variant. It is a hereditary pathology and can be present in heterozygous and homozygous form, as well as combined with other mutations. The homozygous form is the most severe, and as a treatment, patients require frequent transfusions. In Catlab, Hemoglobin S can be quantified by two main methods: HPLC and electrophoresis.