Comparing Refrigeration to Immediate Room Temperature Testing for Uric Acid Monitoring in Rasburicase-Treated Patients.

Background: Rasburicase retains activity at room temperature (RT), so specimens collected for uric acid-level monitoring require cooling protocols. Our objective was to determine if we could ease these preanalytical requirements to improve compliance while maintaining accuracy.

Methods: Fifty pairs of specimens were transported and stored either on ice or at RT.

Deceptively Simple: Can Urine Samples from CLIA-Waived Urine Drug Screen Devices Be Reused for Confirmatory Testing?

Background: Many low-complexity urine drug screen (UDS) devices are approved by the Food and Drug Administration as waived under Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) criteria. Labeling instructs patients to urinate directly into the device and also states that positive results should be confirmed. However, the device itself may pose a risk of drug adsorption and/or specimen contamination that could affect results in confirmatory assays if specimens are reused.

Spirited away: Can ethanol testing in add-on orders provide meaningful results?

Ethanol is a volatile substance, and specimens need to be tightly capped prior to analysis to prevent evaporative loss. However, add-on requests in previously decapped tubes are commonly received, yet ethanol stability in this setting is unclear. We compared the stability of ethanol in capped vs decapped tubes in the context of routine laboratory automation, storage time, and specimen volumes.

Molecular Diagnostic Advances in Transplant Infectious Diseases.

Purpose Of Review: The infectious complications of transplantation can have devastating consequences for patients. Early and accurate diagnosis is essential to good outcomes. This review describes recent advances in pathogen-directed diagnostic testing and discusses the role of new methods for transplant infectious diseases.

Pulmonary Mycobacterial Spindle Cell Pseudotumor: A Report of 3 Cases Including a Practical Approach to Histopathologic Recognition of This Unusual Entity.

Mycobacterial spindle cell pseudotumor (MSP) is a rare benign spindle cell lesion containing acid-fact mycobacteria. These lesions are most commonly identified in the lymph nodes, skin, spleen, or bone marrow of immunocompromised patients and only rarely involve the lungs. We report 3 cases of pulmonary MSP, which include 2 patients who are known to be HIV-positive.