Each time I attend an industry tradeshow, I’m inspired by the array of products for the clinical laboratory, especially those products used in the fight against various diseases. It’s exciting to see those products in action and to know that many of them will aid in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases, improve the quality of life and life expectancy, enhance patient and caregiver safety, and improve the way hospitals and laboratories are run.
I attended the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB) Annual Meeting and TXPO in San Diego last month and, along with nearly 5,000 other visitors, I saw a myriad of products and services for the blood-banking industry. Many of these products will have a lasting impact on this industry, particularly in the way clinical labs and blood banks monitor their environments. We will provide detailed information and analysis of some of these products in future issues of CLP.
In the meantime, this issue deals with other exciting new products designed to improve patient care and the efficiency of labs. On page 26, Lori Weeks, of OSF St. Francis Medical Center in Peoria, Ill, discusses her experiences with Cyto-Chex®, a blood-preserving product from Streck Laboratories in Omaha, Neb. This batching and transport reagent is designed to allow specimens to be held for several days. Since St. Francis Medical Center began using Cyto-Chex early this year, the facility has realized tremendous savings in time, labor, and transportation costs. Another product that has reduced overhead costs for hospitals is the VIDAS® D-Dimer New™ from bioMerieux Inc (see page 28). This product was recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in excluding a diagnosis of deep-vein thrombosis and as an aid in diagnosing pulmonary embolism in outpatients.
In our Product Technology Brief section, we take a look at ImmuKnow™, an Immune cell function assay that allows physicians to better evaluate the net effect of immunosuppressant drug treatments on patients and to better evaluate treatment options. In the early days of transplant medicine the main concern was controlling the rejection response of patients, but now the focus has shifted to long-term patient and graft survival. The challenge for transplant physicians is to optimize the level of immunosuppression to prevent rejection while avoiding the adverse effects of oversuppression. ImmuKnow is an important aid in the process.
Finally, this issue addresses stomach cancer. Even though the incidence of this cancer has decreased in the US, it often goes undetected while continuing to be one of the most deadly forms of cancer. In fact, more than half of those who contract the disease will die as a result. The good news is that current diagnostic methods tend to be less invasive than in the past. See “Stomach Cancer Still Lurks” on p. 22.
During a break at the AABB show, another attendee and I were discussing how we got into this industry, and she said something that stuck in my mind. “I’ve worked in industries where I made more money, but there is nothing more rewarding than doing work that can make a difference in the health of people,” she said. “With each new product [for the clinical lab] comes new hope.” I second that.
Carol Andrews
Editor
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