Pre-analytical variation of laboratory variables.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to J Watine.
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TUMOR MARKERS: We reviewed the biomedical literature searching for the most well-documented serum markers with prognostic value independent of the usual radioclinical and histological parameters of small cell lung cancer. RELATIVE PROGNOSTIC VALUES: Neuron specific enolase (NSE) would have a pretherapeutic prognostic value better than LDH (lacto-dehydrogenase) and perhaps better than serum sodium, biocarbonates, and uric acid. The superiority of NSE over serum albumin remains to be proven. Although there are only a few reports, TK (thymine kinase), TPA (tissue polypeptide antigen), Cyfra 21-1 and/or IL-2 (interleukin-2) secretion might have better pretherapeutic prognostic value than NSE. We also found that iterative blood assays to follow therapeutic effects in patients with small-cell lung cancer have not been proven to provide independent prognostic information. CONCLUSION: As medical laboratory resources must be concentrated on priority exploitable assays, the currently available data would suggest that it is not necessary to routinely measure serum tumor markers, and in particular NSE, for the prognostic evaluation of small-cell lung cancer patients.
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We have reviewed the biomedical literature published over the last 25 years in order to try to establish which of four frequently evaluated laboratory parameters (i.e. serum, or plasma, NSE, LDH, sodium or albumin) might, alone or in combination, give the "best" pretreatment prognostic information in small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) patients, independent of the usual radiological and clinical parameters. From the 45 studies included in this review, the only clear conclusion that can be derived is that it has not yet been clearly demonstrated that the "new" tests (NSE or other tumor markers) are superior to the "old" tests (LDH, sodium, albumin etc.). From the only seven studies that used the same powerful statistical methodologies (Cox's models in association with recursive partitioning and amalgamation procedure (RECPAM) analysis) it could be concluded that LDH and albumin might have independent prognostic significance in SCLC and in advanced SCLC respectively. Provided that, in the future, both laboratory and statistical expertises are clearly guaranteed in the primary studies in this field, it might become possible to propose laboratory parameters as additional staging parameters in SCLC.
The American Thoracic Society (ATS) and the European Respiratory Society (ERS) do not recommend routine tumor marker assay for screening, staging or evaluation of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In contrast to this position, the statement of the French society of pneumology (Société de Pneumologie de Langue Française, SPLF) suggests such assays may be useful for prognostic evaluation of NSCLC (and certainly so before treatment) and that the usefulness of serum CEA (carcino-embryonic antigen) measurements before and after treatment is not clearly excluded. Our own review of the literature indicates that other routine tests less expensive than tumor markers such as LDH, prothrombin time, calcium, blood cell counts and even serum proteins might, alone or in combination, have a prognostic significance similar to, or even higher than, tumor markers. Since routine clinical laboratories have to set priorities for useful analyses, a clear reading of the biomedical literature suggests that it is not currently necessary to routinely measure serum tumor markers (including Cyfra 21-1) for the prognostic evaluation of NSCLC patients.
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Results obtained using our expert computer program (SIR, 12A, Montpellier, France) over the last seven years (1991-1998) suggest that the increased incidence of superficial pus infection or colonization with O12 Pseudomonas aeruginosa, together with the significantly longer carriage duration for this organism as compared to non O12. P. aeruginosa, may contribute to the current endemic clonal spread of O12 P. aeruginosa in a general hospital in Rodez, France, and in neighboring extended-care facilities. This ecological observation may reflect poor compliance with basic hygiene procedures in the Rodez hospital and in neighboring hospitals. The O12 P. aeruginosa clone in the Rodez hospital is indistinguishable from the one that has disseminated throughout Europe, suggesting that the ecological observation and hypothesis described herein may deserve to be investigated in other institutions that are also the site of endemic clonal O12 P. aeruginosa dissemination.
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We report a failure of pristinamycin treatment in a case of pneumonia caused by streptogramins B-type resistant pneumococcus. We suggest that (i) streptogramins therapy should be avoided, if a previous treatment failure has been observed with a macrolide and/or if the antibiogram shows the MLS(B) co-resistance phenotype, and (ii) beta-lactams should remain the first-line antibiotics used for treatment of pneumococcal respiratory infections.
A review of the biomedical literature suggests that lymphocyte and neutrophil counts are probably the only blood cell count parameters whose independent pre-therapeutic prognostic values are significantly documented in lung cancer (and only in non small cell lung cancer). The independent pre-therapeutic prognostic value of these two parameters remains quite controversial however, and further studies should be conducted, and in particular, comparisons between neutrophils, lymphocytes, and serum cyfra 21-1. For the therapeutic follow-up, further prognostic evaluation studies are also necessary for blood cell count parameters as well as for serum cyfra 21-1. Clinical biologists still have to convince clinicians and/or journal editors that it is not scientifically acceptable for publications to omit detailing the analytical and pre-analytical methodologies used for blood cell count measurements.
A clonal origin for European isolates of antibiotic multi-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa serotype O12 has been suggested. This study was designed to assess the value and limitations of several typing methods for the investigation of outbreaks due to this serotype. In Hôpital de Rodez, France, this organism is endemic, and a prospective clinical epidemiological study was undertaken over a 15 month period, encompassing all patients at the hospital from whom P. aeruginosa O12 was isolated. All isolates were examined by auxanogram, antibiogram, phage-typing, electrophoresis of esterases and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis of DNA. The results suggest that (1) the methods used did not clearly differentiate between clinically-related and epidemiologically-unrelated European isolates, (2) in Hôpital de Rodez, while some isolates were likely to have been transmitted from patient-to-patient, most infections or colonizations with this organism were sporadic and their origin is unknown. The limits of typing methods for the investigation of outbreaks of nosocomial infection with multi-resistant P. aeruginosa O12 are emphasized.