MCL

Mayo Clinic Laboratories is thrilled to introduce “Lab Medicine Rounds.” This curated podcast for physicians, laboratory professionals, and students features trending topics from Mayo Clinic Laboratories subject-matter experts.

Newborn screening panels that test for a variety of conditions are available in every state; however, test performance and response rate by each state are very different. Mayo Clinic's Biochemical Genetics Laboratory created the Collaborative Laboratory Integrated Reports tool to mitigate the national (and international) problem of false positives and to raise the bar on test performance.

Traditionally, Mayo Clinic's Simulation Center is used for surgical procedures and teaching students how to run a code. Mayo Clinic pathology consultant Karen Fritchie, M.D., recently developed a new and innovative way to use the center.

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.

Ann Moyer, M.D., 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.

Antimicrobial susceptibility testing determines whether these bacteria are susceptible or resistant to a particular antibiotic. Bacteria are added onto plates of solid agar, where each plate has a different and increasing concentration of antibiotic than the previous plate. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) is the lowest concentration of an antimicrobial that inhibits growth of the bacteria.

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.

Mayo Clinic Laboratories is the only laboratory in the world to offer testing for a novel form of autoimmune meningoencephalomyelitis. Known as autoimmune glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) astrocytopathy, the condition was identified by Mayo Clinic in 2016. The GFAP antibody test is offered as part of Mayo Clinic Laboratories’ encephalitis and myelopathy evaluations.

Rondell P. Graham, M.B.B.S., gives an overview of this test available through Mayo Clinic Laboratories. He discusses when this testing should be ordered, how this testing improves upon previous testing approaches, what clinical action can be taken due to the results of this testing.

Patients with autoimmune myelopathy present with subacute onset and rapid progression of spinal cord symptoms (weakness, gait difficulties, loss of sensation, neuropathic pain, and bowel and bladder dysfunction). Autoimmune myelopathy evaluation of serum and spinal fluid can assist in the diagnosis and aid distinction from other causes of myelopathy (multiple sclerosis, sarcoidosis, and vascular disease). Early diagnosis may assist in diagnosis of occult cancer, prompt initiation of immune therapies, or both.

In May 2019, Mayo Clinic Laboratories announced four new tests along with numerous reference value changes, obsolete tests, and algorithm changes.

Mayo Clinic Laboratories is one of the few laboratories in the country to offer two special sequencing-based tests for bacteria in its catalog. The first test is designed to help protect patients by investigating potential outbreaks of a single bacterial species or by identifying recurrent infections in an individual patient. The second has the ability to detect DNA of any bacteria to help identify the cause of an infection.

Blacklegged ticks (also known as deer ticks) are turning up more frequently in Minnesota, and so are the diseases they carry. Bobbi Pritt, a parasitologist in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, weighs in on the issue.