American Association for Clinical Chemistry
Improving healthcare through laboratory medicine
May 2007 Clinical Laboratory News: Volume 33, Number 5

 

COVER STORIES
Managed Care Contract Shakeups for Lab Testing
Is a Price War Underway?
By Julie McDowell
  With the nation’s two top health insurers swapping national reference labs to slash prices, regional reference labs and hospital outreach programs will have to play smart to stay in the game.
 The Road to Better Down Syndrome Screening
Will Fetal Nucleic Acids Someday Provide Safer Answers?
By Deborah Levenson
  Cutting-edge approaches to noninvasive Down syndrome screening could reduce the risk to pregnant women, but before any such technology can become part of clinical practice, larger trials must validate and expand the current findings.
   
SERIES ARTICLE
Macroprolactin
A Common Cause of Interference in Immunoassays for Serum Prolactin
By Michael Fahie-Wilson, MPhil, MRSC
  Macroprolactinaemia is commonly observed in patients with elevated serum prolactin. Labs can help avoid misdiagnosis and mismanagement of these patients by helping clinicians understand the results of serum prolactin measurements.
   
NEWS BRIEF
AHA Expands Lipid Screening for Overweight Kids
 
PROFILES
News From the FDA
Diagnostic Profiles
Industry Profiles
Washington Profiles
New Products

Next Month

New Developments in HPV Testing

The Move to Regulate Laboratory Developed Tests