Hot Topic

In this month’s “Hot Topic,” Dr. Curt Hanson 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.

In this month’s “Hot Topic,” Robin Patel, M.D., discusses the FilmArray meningitis/encephalitis (ME) panel, describing the panel, her experience with it, and an algorithm for its use.

Antibodies to aquaporin-4 and myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) are recently described biomarkers seen in a subset of atypical optic neuritis which have revolutionized our understanding of the condition. In this “Hot Topic,” my colleague, Dr. John Chen, will review these advances and how they impact the clinical care of our patients with optic neuritis.

Cytomegalovirus, or CMV, is a common cause of disease in the transplant population. In some patients who are diagnosed with CMV and are on antiviral treatment for infections, the virus may develop resistance to the drugs. This “Hot Topic” will provide an overview of a new test developed by Mayo Clinic Laboratories, which uses next-generation sequencing technology to identify mutations in the genome of CMV that may be associated with antiviral resistance.

In this month’s “Hot Topic,” Julia Lehman, M.D., will discuss a rare and potentially fatal mucocutaneous blistering disease that is often associated with an underlying malignancy, called paraneoplastic pemphigus. She will also discuss the specialized tissue and serum testing that is required to establish the diagnosis.

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.

In this month’s “Hot Topic,” Brad Karon, M.D., Ph.D., will cover the need and evidence behind following the order of draw recommendations for routine blood collection. Specifically, does evidence demonstrate a need to collect serum tubes before either potassium EDTA or citrate tubes?

In this month’s “Hot Topic,” Robin Patel, M.D., discusses how matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time of flight (MALDI TOF) mass spectrometry works for bacterial identification, including the strengths and limitations of this technology. She also covers Mayo Clinic’s experience with the technology in the clinical laboratory.