Dec 19, 2016 | Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing
Latest research provides new opportunities for clinical laboratories to demonstrate how testing can help curb hospital-acquired infections
Pathologists, microbiologists, and other healthcare providers have long been aware that hospital patients taking antibiotics are at higher risk of contracting the potentially deadly Clostridium difficile infection (C. diff). But new research adds an interesting twist to this issue.
Recent research indicates that being a “second user” of a bed may be another risk factor for acquiring the disease. This will give clinical laboratory professionals, microbiologists, and others on the front lines of hospital infection control programs another factor to consider when working to halt the spread of hospital-acquired infections (HAIs).
The recent study was published online in JAMA Internal Medicine. It shows that patients put in a hospital bed previously occupied by someone given antibiotics are 22% more likely to develop the C. difficile infection, even if they do not themselves receive antibiotics. (more…)
Nov 20, 2015 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing
Ohio State University study shows correlation between genetic variability among cancer cells within tumors and the survival of patients with head-and-neck cancers
Anatomic pathologists and clinical laboratories may gain a tool to identify tumor heterogeneity. This would enable them to ultimately guide personalized cancer therapies if a new method for measuring genetic variability within a tumor and predicting outcomes is confirmed in future studies.
Scientists Seek Cause of Resistance to Cancer Treatment
The new tool was dubbed “MATH” by researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center–Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC–James). MATH is the scoring method they developed and stands for mutant-allele tumor heterogeneity. MATH was used to measure the genetic variability among cancer cells within tumors from 305 patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), treated at multiple institutions, from The Cancer Genome Atlas.
In announcing the study results, OSUCCC-James stated that cancers that showed high genetic variability— called “intra-tumor heterogeneity”—correlated with lower patient survival.
James Rocco, MD, PhD, Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, and his colleagues, used MATH values “to document a relation between intra-tumor heterogeneity and overall survival in any type of cancer.” (more…)
Mar 4, 2011 | Digital Pathology, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Pathologists likely to be surprised to learn that consumers reach objectively to the results of genetic tests
How consumers will react to the results of genetic tests is a subject of constant debate by many health policy wonks. This same debate has its counterpart in the clinical laboratory testing industry, as pathologists and PhDs discuss the pros and cons of allowing consumers to order their own predictive genetic tests and molecular diagnostic assays.
Rapid developments in whole human genome sequencing will soon make it affordable and fast for any consumer to run their entire genome and have the results analyzed and presented to them in a detailed, easy-to-understand manner. In practical terms, it means medical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups will need to be ready to respond to consumer demand for access to these tests.
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