COVER STORIES
The Dilemma Surrounding Critical Value Reporting
What Does it Take to Improve Communication?
By Bill Malone
In a rapidly changing information technology environment, lab results now compete with a swelling chorus of alerts and alarms that follow physicians throughout their day. According to experts, the only way to improve communication around critical values will be for laboratorians and physicians to work together, pushing for smarter, comprehensive IT solutions that close the loop on follow-up for critical values and all abnormal results.
The Case for Biomarkers in Solid Organ Transplantation
When Will Clinically Valuable Tests be Ready?
By Genna Rollins
Solid organ transplantation has become a standard and largely successful treatment for organ failure, but clinicians say there is a critical need for biomarkers that improve therapeutic drug monitoring for immunosuppressive therapy, detect rejection earlier than is possible today, and predict prognosis.
SERIES ARTICLE
Kidney Stones
Biochemical Evaluation of Risk Factors
By Vinita Mishra, MBBS, MD, MPhil, FRCPath and Kee Wong, MBChB, MRCS
The prevalence of kidney stones in the U.S. has been rising over the past 30 years, and once a patient has developed a stone, the risk of recurrence is quite high. Surgical treatments remove the painful stones, but extensive metabolic stone evaluation shows the most potential to reduce stone recurrence by identifying underlying causes of stone formation, monitoring it, and guiding treatment.
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Shifting CHF Patient Demographics
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