Blogs

The Essence: The Best of June 2020

By Anne-Margaret Olsson posted 5 days ago
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The Artery is your community for finding solutions to your day-to-day clinical chemistry questions. Last month, several answers were found to questions ranging from “Should COVID Serology Positives Be Confirmed?” to “Do Any Labs Have Guidance or a Policy for Pooling Samples for SARS-CoV-2 PCR Testing?”. Read on for our editor’s picks of the best discussions on the Artery in June. Should COVID Serology Positives Be Confirmed? Initiated by @Charles Beavers, MD Given the high probability of encountering false positives with serology, is anyone considering confirmation testing with another antigen (e.g. spike vs. nucleocapsid antibodies)? One respondent says ...
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The Essence: The Best of May 2020

By Anne-Margaret Olsson posted 06-04-2020
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The Artery is your community for finding solutions to your day-to-day clinical chemistry questions. Last month, several answers were found to questions ranging from “Serum or plasma?” to “Why is COVID more frequent in men than in women?”. Read on for our editor’s picks of the best discussions on the Artery in May. Drive Up Phlebotomy Initiated by @Alison Woodworth, PhD, DABCC, FAACC With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, one institute has been asked to set up a drive up phlebotomy service and is wondering if others are doing the same. One respondent’s institute is: They first screen patients with an IR thermometer at the entrance to the parking garage. Patients ...
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The Essence: The Best of April 2020

By Anne-Margaret Olsson posted 05-06-2020
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The Artery is your community for finding solutions to your day-to-day clinical chemistry questions. Last month, several answers were found to questions ranging from “Are Early Serological Markers Necessary?” to “Should We Test Surgery Patients for COVID-19 on a Pre-op Basis?”. Read on for our editor’s picks of the best discussions on the Artery in April. Pneumatic Tube System for COVID Samples Initiated by @Kathryn Lloyd, MD Should pneumatic tube systems be used for delivering COVID-19 specimens to the lab? CDC’s website advises against transporting respiratory COVID-19 specimens via pneumatic tube, while in a call, the agency advised against using tube ...
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The Essence: The Best of March 2020

By Anne-Margaret Olsson posted 04-08-2020
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The Artery is your community for finding solutions to your day-to-day clinical chemistry questions. Last month, several answers were found to questions ranging from “How Do You Flag Send-Out Tests in Your EMR?” to “Masking in the Lab?”. Read on for our editor’s picks of the best discussions on the Artery in March. Hemoglobin A1c Flags and Unusual Results Initiated by @Matthew Wasco, MD A lab recently implemented a new HbA1c electrophoresis assay, and one of the flags that has popped up more than others is a broad peak of A1c. What does this finding mean? Respondents say possible causes could include an interfering hemoglobin fragment, a rare post-translational ...
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UPDATE: AACC Actions on COVID-19

By Carmen Wiley, PhD, DABCC, FAACC posted 04-03-2020
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The essential work of clinical laboratory professionals could never be clearer than it is now, as the coronavirus pandemic tightens its grip in the U.S. and in countries worldwide. AACC members have been diligently and determinedly developing, validating, and implementing SARS-CoV-2 tests while also responding to the surge in diagnostic testing from the mounting influx of patients with COVID-19 illness. Our Policy and External Affairs Core Committee has been working closely with me and the AACC staff to assess this ever-changing situation. We will continue to proactively advocate for you to efficiently develop and perform SARS-CoV-2 tests and to raise public ...
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The Essence: The Best of February 2020

By Anne-Margaret Olsson posted 03-04-2020
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The Artery is your community for finding solutions to your day-to-day clinical chemistry questions. Last month, several answers were found to questions ranging from “Does your lab perform annual/periodic carryover assessment of analyzers with automatic pipetting systems?” to “Are the methods you use for AST & ALT supplemented with P-5’-P?”.  Read on for our editor’s picks of the best discussions on the Artery in February. Pathology Review for Absolute Lymphocyte Count Initiated by @Richard Hancock, MT (ASCP) One member is wondering if other labs could share their upper limits for absolute lymphocyte count on a peripheral smear that requires ...
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The Essence: The Best of January 2020

By Anne-Margaret Olsson posted 02-06-2020
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The Artery is your community for finding solutions to your day-to-day clinical chemistry questions. Last month, several answers were found to questions ranging from “What reference range do labs use when running quantitative hCG on males?” to “What is your critical value notification process?” Read on for our editor’s picks of the best discussions on the Artery in January. Quantitative hCG on Males Initiated by @Linda England, MT (ASCP) What reference range do labs use when running quantitative hCG on males? Respondents say that hCG in men should normally be undetectable, and that each individual lab should verify a male reference interval for its own local ...
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A Warm Welcome From Your AACC President

By Carmen Wiley, PhD, DABCC, FAACC posted 01-09-2020
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Dear Members, At the start of a new year and new decade I am pleased to update you on the progress AACC has made in the past 12 months and on what we look forward to in 2020. Our new strategic plan—debuted at the 2019 AACC Annual Scientific Meeting—features five goals collectively aimed at ensuring that the association keeps meeting the needs and professional interests of our diverse membership base. One of those goals—building advocacy and influence—emphasizes AACC’s visibility in modernizing regulations, limiting cuts to laboratory reimbursement, and ensuring laboratory medicine has a crucial place in evolving payment methods. In 2020 we will continue our ...
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Conversations that Matter – Top Discussions of 2019

By Anne-Margaret Olsson posted 01-08-2020
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The Artery is your community, where you can ask questions, get answers, connect with fellow colleagues, and learn from each other. Many great discussions took place on the Artery throughout 2019, but some received a lot of extra attention. Below are the threads from last year with the highest number of replies. Enjoy re-reading the best of 2019. Fasting Specimen of 75g OGTT Initiated by @Yun Trull, PhD MAY.6.2019 What protocol do labs follow when deciding whether or not to give a patient a 2h 75g OGTT? Many institutions send a fasting specimen to the main lab for glucose testing, and if the result is too high, they cancel the OGTT. Some labs also screen ...
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The Essence: The Best of December 2019

By Anne-Margaret Olsson posted 01-06-2020
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The Artery is a great resource for all AACC members—a place where you can ask your questions about laboratory practice and receive prompt, detailed responses. Each month our editor selects some of the best new Artery discussions. Below are our editor's picks for December. How many decimals does your ultrasensitive-PSA have? Initiated by @Charles Beavers, MD The original poster’s lab recently changed to 2 decimal places, but he noticed that major reference labs vary a lot in how many decimal places they report (from 1 to 3) and is wondering what other labs do. A couple respondents say that labs should not report out to 3 decimal places unless they’ve validated ...
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The Essence: The Best of November 2019

By Anne-Margaret Olsson posted 12-04-2019
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The Artery is your community for finding solutions to your day-to-day clinical chemistry questions. Last month, several answers were found to questions ranging from “Which equation do labs use to calculate eGFR using serum creatinine values?” to “What is the difference between a lead test that is marketed as an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) lead test versus a plain lead test?”. Read on for our editor’s picks of the best discussions on the Artery in November. Quality Control Storage Initiated by @Robert Rosecrans, PhD, ABB, FAACC One poster is wondering why his lab was cited by a mock Joint Commission inspector for storing quality ...
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The Essence: The Best of October 2019

By Anne-Margaret Olsson posted 11-07-2019
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The Artery is your community for finding solutions to your day-to-day clinical chemistry questions. Last month, several answers were found to questions ranging from “How many IO-PTHs do others run at their hospitals?” to “What instruments do labs use to report the pH on cord blood specimens?” Read on for our editor’s picks of the best discussions on the Artery in October. Intraoperative PTH Volume? Initiated by @Charles Beavers, MD How many IO-PTHs do others run at their hospitals, and at what volume does it make sense to have a stat lab for this test? Other institutes run anywhere from 1-2 per week to 1-2 per day. Labs in the 1-2 per week range run ...
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The Essence: The Best of September 2019

By Anne-Margaret Olsson posted 10-07-2019
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Last month on the Artery, several solutions were found to questions ranging from “when should a lab perform ioPTH measurements?” to “who should collect sweat chloride specimens?” Read on for our editor’s picks of the best discussions on the Artery in September. How Late Does Your Laboratory Offer ioPTH Measurements? Initiated by @Joesph Wiencek, PhD The majority of respondents say their labs don’t restrict when they perform intraoperative PTH, but that almost all requests they receive come in during the day shift. One respondent added that his lab is informed about ioPTH testing the day before, while another respondent said her lab has access to the surgery ...
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The Essence: The Best of August 2019

By Anne-Margaret Olsson posted 09-06-2019
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The Artery is a great resource for all AACC members—a place where you can ask your questions and receive prompt, detailed responses. This past month was a very active month on the Artery, with many solutions shared. Read on for our editor’s picks of the best discussions on the Artery in August. Immunoglobulins Initiated by @Liliana D Agostino, BSc, MSc In an immunofixation electrophoresis for a patient with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, an additional band appeared with beta mobility characterized as immunoglobin G without kappa and lambda chains. Several respondents think this might be evidence for gamma heavy chain disease, with one respondent suggesting that ...
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The Essence: The Best of June 2019

By Anne-Margaret Olsson posted 07-02-2019
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The Essence: The Best of June 2019 The Artery is a great resource to all AACC members, a place where you can ask your questions and receive detailed prompt responses. This past month there were several solutions shared including, “QFT Gold Plus – Do You Collect Four Tubes or One Tube?”. Read on for our editor’s picks of the best discussions on the Artery in June. QFT Gold Plus – Do You Collect Four Tubes or One Tube? Initiated by @Jennifer Thebo, PhD, MT (ASCP) One respondent’s lab collects a single tube. When they used to collect four tubes, they were sending a lot of QFT tubes to clients and not getting all of the tubes back before they expired. With ...
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The Essence: The Best of May 2019

By Anne-Margaret Olsson posted 06-10-2019
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The Essence: The Best of May 2019 May was a busy month on the Artery, resulting in the highest number of total posts (including both new posts and replies) that we’ve had all year. To what do we credit this success? To you, the AACC members who understand that the Artery is a valuable resource where you can ask your tough questions and get the feedback and responses you need. In case you missed some of the solutions found on the Artery last month, below are our editor’s summaries of the May highlights. Patient Request to “Take Back” Blood Drawn During Hospital Stay Initiated by @Janet Simons, MD, FRCPC What do labs do when patients request that their blood ...
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The Essence: The Best of April 2019

By Anne-Margaret Olsson posted 05-03-2019
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The Artery continues to be a great member benefit where you can receive solutions to your most perplexing questions.  This past month several solutions were shared including "How do labs reduce pre-analytical hemolysis?". Read on for our editor's picks of the best discussions on the Artery in April. PTH Sample to Use: EDTA Plasma or Serum? Initiated by Carmelo Moreno Most labs use EDTA plasma, with one lab taking a separate sample of serum or heparin plasma for calcium determination. Plasma was traditionally thought to be best because specimens could be centrifuged immediately, which presumably inhibited protease action. One lab uses serum, however, and ...
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My Year as Artery Ambassador

By Saswati Das, MD posted 01-18-2019
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Though I have been an AACC member for 5 years, the past year ended up being the most exciting one I’ve had with the association to date thanks to my time serving as an Artery ambassador. Volunteering as an ambassador has given me the chance to try something new, to contribute to AACC, and to gain confidence and build a real sense of achievement. It presents new challenges every day but is also super fun at the same time. Most significantly, through this role I have become part of the Artery community,where I can connect in real-time with clinical chemists around the world and learn new skills. AACC Artery provides a one-of-a-kind opportunity to share knowledge ...
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Core Committee Spotlight: An interview with Dr. Nichole Korpi-Steiner, Chair of SYCL

By Manoj Tyagi, PhD, NRCC, FAACC posted 06-13-2017
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Dear Artery   members,   I had the recent opportunity and honor to interview Dr.   Nichole Korpi-Steiner, who chairs the SYCL (Society for Young Clinical Laboratorians) core committee and is director of point-of-care testing (POCT) and associate director of the core lab at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill.   In conversing with her I discovered that she is so   calm and nature-friendly, as well as a family and fun-loving person, enjoying BBQ and campfires in her backyard  and exploring the variety of foods we have here in North Carolina. Nichole completed her graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and found the field ...
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