The use of autologous blood in patients undergoing subcutaneous mastectomy or reduction mammaplasty.

Adverse reactions are reported following 2% of transfusions. Posttransfusion viral hepatitis may occur in 8% of patients receiving homologous blood. Plastic surgery procedures, such as reduction mammaplasty and subcutaneous mastectomy, are associated with moderate blood loss that may require transfusion.

Hyperviscosity syndrome in paraproteinemia. Managed by plasma exchange; monitored by serum tests.

Clinical and laboratory indices of hyperviscosity were studied in three patients presenting with this complication of paraproteinemia. Serum viscosity correctly predicted the presence of clinical hyperviscosity syndrome in patients with stable hemoglobin and albumin concentrations. Serum viscosity also correlated with total protein and paraprotein levels.

The "iron screen": modification of standard laboratory practice with data analysis.

Multivariate analysis was applied to iron deficiency anemia to generate an efficient sequence of diagnostic laboratory tests. A three step diagnostic system--serum ferritin level and mean corpuscular volume as a screen in all patients, followed by serum iron level and total iron binding capacity in some patients, and by erythrocyte sedimentation rate in a few patients--was constructed using a previously validated data reduction system. When compared to bone marrow iron stores, this system was found to have 96 per cent accuracy.

A proposal for a department of pathology improvement program.

A quality assurance program for Departments of Pathology was first proposed by William Beautyman, MD, while he was a member of the Board of Governors of the College of American Pathologists. Subsequently, this proposal has been reviewed in detail by the CAP Clinical Pathology Committee under the chairmanship of William Cole, MD, and more recently Mario Werner, MD. At this time, the Clinical Pathology Committee believes a thorough discussion of the merits, format, and content of the program is desirable to bring the concept to maturation.