Hematology

Mayo Clinic Laboratories provides evaluation and consultation for the diagnosis and treatment of patients with hereditary and acquired hematologic disorders.

Linda Baughn Ph.D. gives an overview of this new test available through Mayo Clinic Laboratories. She discusses when this testing should be ordered, how this testing improves upon other testing approaches, and what clinical action can be taken due to the results of this testing.

In this month’s “Hot Topic,” Curtis Hanson, M.D., will discuss the use of laboratory-based prognostic markers in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). He will also highlight the importance of molecular analyses for IGHV and TP53 sequencing in these patients.

David Viswanatha, M.D., a hematopathologist and co-director of the molecular hematology and complete genome sequencing laboratories at Mayo Clinic, provides an overview of BCR/ABL1 testing, discusses the best testing methods, NCCN/ELN criteria guidelines, why FISH testing is no longer routinely available at Mayo Clinic, and what test to order at what time for CML patients.

Curtis Hanson, M.D., discusses the importance of detecting immunoglobulin heavy-chain variable region gene (IGHV) when acquiring prognostic and potentially therapeutic information in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients in CAP TODAY.

The current diagnostic tools in a pathologist’s arsenal sometimes cannot provide a clear distinction between primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma (one of the few lymphomas more common in younger women) and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, the most common type of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma overall.

The standard laboratory test to diagnose multiple myeloma dates back to the Eisenhower administration. Research at Mayo Clinic spearheaded by David Murray, M.D., Ph.D. (PATH ’10), and fueled by his experience as an industrial chemist has led to a new assay to screen and diagnose the disease.

In this month’s “Hot Topic,” Rajiv Pruthi, M.B.B.S., will discuss different types of hemophilia along with their pathologic basis. He will also cover various types of factor assays such as one stage and chromogenic factor assays for diagnosis and their role in management of hemophilia.

This week’s Research Roundup highlights an assay to rapidly screen for immunoglobulin light chain glycosylation: a potential path to earlier AL diagnosis for a subset of patients and several other research articles by Mayo Clinic physicians and scientists.

Our Mayo Clinic colleagues are in San Diego for the 60th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exhibition. Follow this blog for live updates from #ASH18 as we attend the conference, mingle with colleagues at booth #2927, and have a little fun.

In this month’s “Hot Topic,” Brad Karon, M.D., Ph.D., describes how pseudohyperkalemia has many causes, from collection techniques, processing, and even transport. This presentation focuses on the various preanalytic and analytic causes of pseudohyperkalemia and what you as a phlebotomist can do to prevent it.

Multiple myeloma is the second most common blood cancer, but most people haven’t heard of it until they or someone they know is diagnosed with the disease. March is Myeloma Action Month—a time to focus attention on the fight against multiple myeloma.

This week’s Research Roundup highlights high grade B-cell lymphoma with MYC and BCL2 and/or BCL6 rearrangements with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma morphology.