CYFRA 21-1 in patients with suspected cancer: evaluation of an optimal cutoff to assess the diagnostic efficacy and prognostic value.

Objectives: Chosen cutoff for cytokeratin 19 fragment antigen (CYFRA 21-1) as a tumor biomarker considerably influences its diagnostic and prognostic usefulness. The aim of the present study is to determine an optimal cutoff value for diagnostic validity of CYFRA 21-1 by technology in patients with suspected cancer and also to determine if CYFRA 21-1 levels provide prognostic value.

Methods: A consecutive 284 patients suggestive of malignant disease from six hospitals of Madrid were enrolled in a retrospective design.

Capillary glucose concentration during oral glucose tolerance test for the diagnosis of gestational diabetes.

Objective: To assess concordance between two point-of-care testing (POCT) devices and the standard laboratory method in screening for gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in Huesca.

Methods: Pregnant women who met criteria for an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) and attended the laboratory between October 2017 and November 2018 were recruited in this prospective observational study. Glucose was measured in venous (laboratory) and capillary blood (Accu-Chek or Contour Next glucometers).

Biological variation and reference change values of common clinical chemistry and haematologic laboratory analytes in the elderly population.

Background: Biological variation (BV) and reference change values (RCVs) have been widely described for the general population, but the use of these data derived from adults in the elderly population is a controversial issue. We determined the within- and between-subject BV and RCV in both elderly and young people and compared them with previously published analyses.

Methods: Samples were collected from 135 volunteers over 80 years of age at weekly intervals over 4 weeks.