MCL

This list includes updates posted to mayocliniclabs.com during the month of August.

Linnea M. Baudhuin, Ph.D., and Emily K. Thoreson, M.S., CGC, explain how Mayo Clinic Laboratories renal genetics testing provides comprehensive, accurate and actionable results. Identifying a genetic cause helps guide the complex decisions involved with treating kidney disease.

Due to the Labor Day holiday (recognized on Monday, September 5th), Mayo Clinic Laboratories' specimen pickup and delivery schedules will be altered. To ensure that your specimen vitality and turnaround times are not affected, plan ahead.

John Lieske, M.D., describes Mayo Clinic Laboratories' new test for primary membranous nephropathy. PMND1 is a diagnostic cascade that provides a cost-effective approach to detecting antigens known to cause membranous nephropathy — a condition that can lead to kidney failure.

Rong He, M.D., describes how Mayo Clinic Laboratories’ NPM1Q assay detects all known forms of a genetic mutation found in about 30% of people with acute myeloid leukemia, or AML. Identifying the NPM1 mutation is critical for clinical decision-making.

Rajiv Pruthi, M.B.B.S., explains how Mayo Clinic Laboratories’ serotonin release assay achieves high sensitivity and specificity while avoiding the use of radioactive materials. Serotonin release testing is an important tool in the diagnosis of heparin induced thrombocytopenia, or HIT, which can have devastating consequences for patients.

Joshua Bornhorst, Ph.D., describes the new, FDA-approved Alzheimer's disease (AD) test and how it differs from Mayo Clinic Laboratories' existing AD evaluation. The laboratory will offer both tests, to ensure flexibility and options for managing clinical care.

Diagnostic tests are a critical part of America’s health infrastructure and helping people live healthier lives. But in a recent op-ed published on RealClearPolicy, William Morice II, M.D., president of Mayo Clinic Laboratories and Matt Sause, president and CEO of Roche Diagnostics North America, explain how the well-intended Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 (PAMA) puts vital diagnostic tests at risk.

Bringing together advanced testing technology, unparalleled expertise, and a patient-focused approach, Mayo Clinic Laboratories’ new high-resolution urine drug testing profile, ADMPU, evaluates for 22 drug classes including alcohol, marijuana, and nicotine, enabling clarity on substance use and precision insights that propel treatment.

Mayo Clinic Laboratories has validated the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's test kit for monkeypox and will begin to ramp up testing.

As a two-time brain tumor survivor, Alex Kraatz has been through more harrowing medical experiences in his 34 years than most people face in a lifetime. But Alex’s fighting spirit, coupled with precision laboratory testing and cutting-edge treatments, have propelled him forward, keeping him hopeful despite the odds.

In this month's "Hot Topic," Robin Patel, M.D., discusses how the use of multiplex tests may reduce the turnaround time for identifying the cause of bloodstream infections, and how this might impact antibiotic stewardship and patient outcomes.

This "Pathways" program provides Anatomic and Clinical Pathology cases that include a history, potential answers, rationale, and relevant references. Cases for July include the following sub-specialties: Gastroenterology Pathology, Pulmonary Pathology, Pulmonary Pathology and Forensic Pathology, Infectious Disease Pathology and Forensics, and Laboratory Genetics and Genomics and Molecular Pathology.