Publications by authors named "Lorna Clark"
Article Synopsis
- Herpes simplex (HSV) and varicella zoster (VZV) are serious concerns during pregnancy due to their potential to harm both mother and baby through direct infection and complications.
- A case involving a 19-year-old pregnant woman with VZV symptoms was successfully treated with acyclovir, leading to a healthy delivery.
- It is crucial to investigate genital lesions for VZV in pregnant patients, especially those lacking immunity, to develop effective management and ensure safety for mother and baby during childbirth.
Background: An analytical benchmark for high-sensitivity cardiac troponin (hs-cTn) assays is to achieve a coefficient of variation (CV) of ≤ 10.0 % at the 99th percentile upper reference limit (URL) used for the diagnosis of myocardial infarction. Few prospective multicenter studies have evaluated assay imprecision and none have determined precision at the female URL which is lower than the male URL for all cardiac troponin assays.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDifferences in patient classification of myocardial injury between high-sensitivity cardiac troponin (hs-cTn) assays have largely been attributed to assay design and analytical sensitivity aspects. Our objective was to compare Ortho Clinical Diagnostics' (OCD) hs-cTnI assay to OCD's contemporary/conventional assay (cTnI ES) and another hs-cTnI assay (Abbott hs-cTnI) in samples obtained from different emergency departments (EDs). Two different sample types were evaluated (lithium heparin and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) plasma) in a non-selected ED population (study 1, = 469 samples) and in patients for which ED physicians ordered cardiac troponin testing (study 2, = 1147 samples), from five different EDs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- High-sensitivity cardiac troponin (hs-cTn) testing allows for quicker and more accurate diagnosis of heart issues compared to older tests, using advanced technology to detect troponin levels in the ng/L range.
- Differences in assay design and validation mean that not all hs-cTn tests are the same, leading to potential inconsistencies in results.
- The study highlights that the Ortho Clinical Diagnostics hs-cTnI assay may misclassify myocardial injury in about 10% of cases, with around half of those showing unreliable results, particularly in patients with conditions causing an acute phase response.
Objectives: To analytically evaluate Ortho Clinical Diagnostics VITROS high-sensitivity cardiac troponin I (hs-cTnI) assay in specific matrices with comparison to other hs-cTn assays.
Methods: The limit of detection (LoD), imprecision, interference and stability testing for both serum and lithium heparin (Li-Hep) plasma for the VITROS hs-cTnI assay was determined. We performed Passing-Bablok regression analyses between sample types for the VITROS hs-cTnI assay and compared them to the Abbott ARCHITECT, Beckman Access and the Siemens ADVIA Centaur hs-cTnI assays.
Background: Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics has four commercially available assays on different analytical platforms using different methodologies to generate signal. We assessed the analytical performance of the Dimension EXL hs-cTnI assay (LOCI method) across different matrices and compared it to two different acridinium ester-based hs-cTnI assays (ADVIA Centaur and Abbott ARCHITECT).
Methods: The analytical sensitivity and precision below the 99th-percentile was determined for the Dimension EXL hs-cTnI assay.
Article Synopsis
- The study examines how different sample types (serum, lithium heparin plasma, and EDTA plasma) affect the measurement of high-sensitivity cardiac troponin I (hs-cTnI) using the Siemens ADVIA Centaur assay.
- It finds that there is strong agreement in troponin levels between serum and lithium heparin plasma, but lower levels in EDTA plasma, which indicates a need for further research on reference intervals for EDTA.
- Storage conditions impact results, with lithium heparin plasma showing a significant decrease in hs-cTnI concentrations when stored at room temperature, highlighting the importance of proper sample handling.
Background: Elevated and non-changing high-sensitivity cardiac troponin (hs-cTn) concentrations may suggest a process other than acute injury, possibly due to chronic condition(s) causing the elevation, an analytical error/interference or the formation of macrocomplexes. Heart-type fatty acid binding protein (H-FABP) might be useful in this setting to identify the etiology of abnormally high and non-changing cTn concentrations which could aid clinical decision making in the hospital setting.
Methods: We analytically validated the H-FABP assay (Randox) on the Abbott ARICHTECTc8000 platform, testing imprecision, linearity, stability, and matrix comparison.
Background: Analytical evaluation of high-sensitivity cardiac troponin (hs-cTn) assays, with particular attention to imprecision, interferences and matrix effects, at normal cTn concentrations, is of utmost importance as many different clinical algorithms use concentration cutoffs <10 ng/L for decision-making. The objective for the present analytical study was to compare the new Beckman Coulter hs-cTnI assay (Access hsTnI) to Abbott's hs-cTnI assay in different matrices and for different interferences, with a focus on concentrations <10 ng/L.
Methods: The limit of blank (LoB) and the limit of detection (LoD) were determined in different matrices for the Beckman hs-cTnI assay.