Washington, DC, October 13, 2010 The American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) announces two webinars for December 2010: Contemporary Issues in Thyroid Disease Management on December 1 and Laboratory Assessment of the Maternal-Fetal Unit: Healthy Women, Healthy Babies on December 9. Both webinars start at 2:00 pm Eastern and last 90 minutes.
It is estimated that approximately 20 million Americans now suffer from some form of thyroid disease although about 13 million, or 65%, have gone undiagnosed. With so many affected by a dysfunctional thyroid gland, thyroid function testing is becoming increasingly important to support both the diagnosis and management of thyroid disease. However, controversy still exists concerning the upper limit of the Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) reference range and there is still confusion over when to use other thyroid immunoassays in the management of thyroid disease. Additionally, tandem mass spectrometry is rapidly emerging as a technology that could challenge the laboratory’s reliance on traditional immunoassays for T4 and FT4.
The expert team for Contemporary Issues in Thyroid Disease Management is Steven J. Soldin, PhD, Professor in the Departments of Endocrinology and Metabolism and Pharmacology at Georgetown University, Washington, DC, and Clinical Director Endocrinology Laboratories NMS Laboratories, Willow Grove, PA, and Carole A. Spencer, PhD, Professor of Medicine & Technical Director, Endocrine Services Laboratory, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA. Moderating the webinar is Laurence M. Demers, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Pathology and Medicine, The Milton S. Hershey Medical Center at Penn State University, Hershey, PA. During the webinar, the speakers will bring the most up-to-date information on a range of contemporary issues relating to testing for thyroid disease, including where various organizations and interested parties now stand in the debate over the TSH upper reference limit, how to recognize and manage interferences in thyroid immunoassays, and what is new in testing for thyroid disease in pregnant women
Laboratory Assessment of the Maternal-Fetal Unit: Healthy Women, Healthy Babies looks at the role of the clinical laboratory in managing pregnancy and achieving good pregnancy outcomes. In the traditional model, pregnancy care is divided between the obstetrician who treats the expectant mother and the pediatrician who looks after the newborn infant and the growing child. Today, however, the medical community is recognizing the importance of monitoring the ‘maternal fetal unit’ and predicting the consequences of the condition of the expectant mother on neonatal outcomes. The faculty for the webinar, from Stanford University School of Medicine in California, is Sharon Geaghan, MD, Associate Professor of Pathology & Pediatrics, and Yasser El-Sayed, MD, Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Director of Maternal Fetal Medicine. They will examine the role of the laboratory in identifying ‘at risk’ pregnancies, pregnancy monitoring with new and existing laboratory techniques, the focus on treating the maternal-fetal unit, and the clinician’s expectations of laboratory testing for this patient group.
AACC invites interested journalists to participate in the webinars. For a complimentary registration for one or both, complete and submit a Press Registration Form. For more information about the webinars or AACC, contact Peter Patterson on either of the above phone numbers or at ppatterson@aacc.org.