Results from an IFCC global survey on laboratory practices for the analysis of circulating tumor DNA.

Background: The clinical validity of ctDNA analysis as a diagnostic, prognostic and predictive biomarker has been demonstrated in many studies. The rapid spread of tests for the analysis of ctDNA raises questions regarding their standardization and quality assurance. The aim of this study was to provide a global overview of the test methods, laboratory procedures and quality assessment practices using ctDNA diagnostics.

Multi-Modal Point-of-Care Diagnostics for COVID-19 Based on Acoustics and Symptoms.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need to invent alternative respiratory health diagnosis methodologies which provide improvement with respect to time, cost, physical distancing and detection performance. In this context, identifying acoustic bio-markers of respiratory diseases has received renewed interest.

Objective: In this paper, we aim to design COVID-19 diagnostics based on analyzing the acoustics and symptoms data.

Molecular diagnostics of SARS-CoV-2: Findings of an international survey.

Background: In the current COVID-19 pandemic, early and rapid diagnosis of potentially infected and contagious individuals enables containment of the disease through quarantine and contact tracing. The rapid global expansion of these diagnostic testing services raises questions concerning the current state of the art with regard to standardization of testing and quality assessment practices. The aim of this study was to provide a global overview of the test methods, laboratory procedures and quality assessment practices used for SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics.

The Comparison Between Supreme Laryngeal Mask Airway and Endotracheal Tube With Respect to Adequacy of Ventilation in Patients Undergoing Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy Under General Anesthesia-A Prospective, Randomized, Double-Blind Study, and Comparative Study.

Background: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is a commonly performed surgical procedure. Most anesthesiologists advocate tracheal intubation. Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is becoming a day care surgery, hence many anaesthesiologists have started using laryngeal masks to decrease airway manipulation seen with conventional laryngoscopy and endotracheal intubation and avoid hemodynamic pressor responses and postoperative sore throat.

Petroclival Meningioma: Management Strategy and Results in 21 Century.

Background: Petroclival meningioma (PCM) is considered among the most difficult tumors to be treated by microneurosurgery because of its location and its relation to critical structures. The authors report on the outcome in a series of patients with PCM treated in the new millennium with a tailored approach of gross total excision or subtotal removal and adjuvant Gamma Knife Radiosurgery (GKR) depending on the particular case.

Methods: Between 2001 and 2017, 72 consecutive PCMs were operated in a single center by the senior surgeon.

Current and future challenges in quality assurance in molecular diagnostics.

The development and performance of molecular genetic assays has required increasingly complex quality assurance in recent years and continues to pose new challenges. Quality management officers, as well as academic and technical personnel are confronted with new molecular genetic parameters, methods, changing regulatory environments, questions regarding appropriate validation, and quality control for these innovative assays that are increasingly applying quantification and/or multiplex formats. Yet, quality assurance and quality control guidelines are still not widely available or in some circumstances have become outdated.

External quality assessment (EQA) and alternative assessment procedures (AAPs) in molecular diagnostics: findings of an international survey.

Objectives: Quality management for clinical laboratories requires the establishment of internal procedures including standard operating procedures (SOPs), internal quality control (QC), validation of test results and quality assessment. External quality assessment (EQA) and alternativeassessment procedures (AAPs) are part of the quality hierarchy required for diagnostic testing. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) document with requirements for conformance ISO 15189 and the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute document (CLSI) QMS24 require participation in EQA schemes and AAPs where applicable.

Successful anesthetic management of a massive thoracoabdominal impalement injury.

We describe the management, focusing on the anesthetic preparedness, of a 44-year-old man who presented with impalement of a 1 m long serrated rod through the right supraclavicular fossa extending up to the right iliac fossa, along with rib fractures and laceration of the liver and diaphragm.

Dual Ectopic Thyroid Gland in an Elderly Male: Double Trouble?

Double ectopic thyroid tissue is a rare phenomenon. We report a case of a 75-year-old man who was referred with two painless swellings in the anterior midline of neck with a tracheostomy tube in situ with the suspicion of malignancy. Such patients should be investigated completely prior to definitive treatment.

ProSeal Laryngeal Mask Airway versus Cuffed Endotracheal Tube for Laparoscopic Surgical Procedures under General Anesthesia: A Random Comparative Study.

Context: The Proseal LMA(PLMA), which has been designed especially for positive pressure ventilation and protection against aspiration can act as an alternative to Endotracheal Tube (ETT) as an effective airway device for patients undergoing elective Laparoscopic surgeries.

Aims: To compare the efficacy and safety of PLMA with ETT in patients undergoing Laparoscopic surgeries under general anaesthesia.

Settings And Design: A prospective, randomized study was conducted in a tertiary care teaching hospital with 60 patients of ASA grade I/II undergoing elective Laparoscopic surgery under general anaesthesia.

Palliative care in interstitial lung disease: living well.

Progressive fibrotic interstitial lung diseases (ILDs) are characterised by major reductions in quality of life and survival and have similarities to certain malignancies. However, palliative care expertise is conspicuously inaccessible to many patients with ILD. Unmet patient and caregiver needs include effective pharmacological and psychosocial interventions to improve quality of life throughout the disease course, sensitive advanced care planning, and timely patient-centred end-of-life care.

A global multicenter study on reference values: 2. Exploration of sources of variation across the countries.

Objectives: The intent of this study, based on a global multicenter study of reference values (RVs) for serum analytes was to explore biological sources of variation (SVs) of the RVs among 12 countries around the world.

Methods: As described in the first part of this paper, RVs of 50 major serum analytes from 13,396 healthy individuals living in 12 countries were obtained. Analyzed in this study were 23 clinical chemistry analytes and 8 analytes measured by immunoturbidimetry.

Intramedullary osteosclerosis of right femur confirmed on triphasic bone SPECT/CT in a patient with equivocal radiological features.

Sclerotic bone dysplasias are diagnosed based on clinical and radiological features; however, in some instances pose a dilemma. We herewith report a case of a 38-year-old female who presented with right lower extremity pain, and was detected to have sclerotic diaphyseal lesion on X-ray. Triphasic 99mTc methylene diphosphonate (MDP) Bone scan helped in confirming the diagnosis of intramedullary osteosclerosis, a dysplastic bone disorder.

Defining multidrug-resistant tuberculosis: correlating GenoType MTBDRplus assay results with minimum inhibitory concentrations.

This study correlates MICs of rifampicin (RIF) and isoniazid (INH) with GenoType MTBDRplus assay results for drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) clinical isolates. MICs of RIF and INH were established for 84 and 90 isolates, respectively, testing 7 concentrations of each drug. Genotypic resistance to each drug was determined by GenoType MTBDRplus assay with 50 representative mutations confirmed by pyrosequencing, with mutations in the rpoB gene associated with RIF resistance and mutations in the katG and/or inhA genes associated with INH resistance.

Correlating Minimum Inhibitory Concentrations of ofloxacin and moxifloxacin with gyrA mutations using the genotype MTBDRsl assay.

Objective: To correlate gyrA mutations found on the Genotype MTBDRsl assay in Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) isolates with Minimum Inhibitory Concentrations (MICs) to the fluoroquinolones compounds ofloxacin (OFX) and moxifloxacin (MXF).

Methods: MICs for OFX and MXF were ascertained for 93 archived clinical MTB isolates that showed gyrA mutations at Ala90Val, Ser91Pro, Asp94Ala, Asn/Tyr, Gly and His. Thirty fluoroquinolones susceptible isolates as determined by presence of all wild-type gyrA bands on the Genotype MTBDRsl assay were also included.