Jan 20, 2017 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing, Management & Operations
The self-monitoring/self-test market is expected to swell to $19 billion by 2019, offering opportunities for pathologists and clinical laboratories to advise patients and ensure the proper use of home tests
Might the future of clinical laboratory tests be sitting on the shelf at your corner pharmacy right now? Patient self-testing and screening kits continue to garner the approvals of Consumer Reports’ medical advisors.
That’s happening because the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) continues to clear many do-it-yourself tests that traditionally were performed in medical laboratories by qualified personnel, much to the chagrin of some doctors.
Empowered healthcare consumers are checking their cholesterol, monitoring their diabetes, and more, using health screening kits that range from $8 to $175, according to a Consumer Reports on Health article, which advised consumers to use self-tests judiciously and share the results with their physicians. (more…)
Dec 23, 2016 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing
Researchers find shopping for medical laboratory tests increased by nearly 50%, and people are saving more than a million dollars annually by shopping for blood tests
Each year, more consumers use online healthcare price-shopping tools to find hospitals, physicians, and clinical laboratories that have the lowest prices. And medical laboratory tests is among the top services on their lists!
Researchers at Vitals of Lyndhurst, NJ, a company that publishes online physician ratings, analyzed how consumers were using its price and quality transparency tools. They confirmed that shopping for medical laboratory tests/blood work is one of the top healthcare procedures checked by consumers.
According to a recent Vitals press release, approximately 46% more people shopped for blood tests in 2015 than the year before, and they saved $1,149,682 by doing so. That’s because their health plans reward them for selecting good quality and low-price providers, as well as adopting healthy behaviors, such as losing weight, exercising more, and lowering high cholesterol scores. (more…)
Jun 3, 2015 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
Authors of the published study wrote that use of HD optical technology during colonoscopies gives patients a faster answer and may eliminate the need to refer biopsies to pathologists
High definition optical technology is reaching the point where gastroenterologists are able to identify pre-cancerous polyps with 96% accuracy during colonoscopies, according to a recent study conducted at the Mayo Clinic. Pathologists will want to pay close attention to the published findings of this study. That’s because GI biopsies represent a significant proportion of specimens referred to anatomic pathologists.
Researchers at Mayo Clinic worked with high-definition (HD) imaging systems, such as the Olympus Evis Exera II 180 and the Evis Exera III CV-190. The study was published in the June 24, 2014 issue of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. (more…)
Mar 9, 2015 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
New technology accurately distinguishes between cancerous cells and healthy cells. Will it give pathologists a “universal” assay for cancer diagnosis?
In England, a university team has developed a new technology for detecting circulating cancer cells in blood. Their method uses ultraviolet light and the results are so promising that efforts are now underway to develop this method into a clinical laboratory test.
That is why pathologists and medical laboratory professionals may soon have a new tool in their arsenal: one that significantly aids physicians and medical laboratories in the diagnosis of cancer. (more…)
Nov 26, 2014 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
If validated by additional research, microbiologists, pathologists, and medical laboratory professionals might soon find analysis of the human microbiome to be a useful marker in screening for colon cancer
Microbiologists may play a greater role in the early detection of colorectal cancer, if the findings of a research study at the University of Michigan (UMich) are confirmed with additional clinical studies.
Combining gut microbiome analysis with traditional risk factors for colorectal cancer—such as body mass index (BMI), age, and race—significantly improved the ability of pathologists to distinguish healthy people from those with precancerous or cancerous lesions, wrote researchers from the UMich in a scholarly paper published in the November 2014 issue in Cancer Prevention Research.
Research findings indicate that gut microbiomes may be a major factor in development of colorectal cancer. However, more research is required to determine if this microbial community has the potential to be clinically useful as screening tool for early-stage disease. (more…)
