Knowledge Hub
What happens @ PathCare?
Have a look behind the scenes to see how patient specimen
flow is regulated in our laboratory system.
Categories:
- Allergy [1]
- Antimicrobials & infection [2]
- Chemical Pathology [8]
- Endocrinology [1]
- Epidemiology [3]
- Gastrointestinal [2]
- Genetic Analysis [4]
- Genitourinary [2]
- Haematology [5]
- HIV/TB [3]
- Infectious Diseases [9]
- Neurology [4]
- Obstetric and Neonatal care [4]
- Oncology [4]
- Ophthalmology [1]
- Respiratory [2]
- Serology [2]
- Virology [12]
Update on Laboratory testing of Ophthalmology Samples
Key considerations:A key issue is the small volume of sample that is available. It is not feasible to perform all tests on all samples whilst maintaining optimum sensitivity.Therefore, it is the clinician's responsibility to prioritise testing for each...
read moreEastern Cape respiratory surveillance data
Below we present the PathCare susceptibility data for common community-acquired respiratory tract organisms isolated from lower respiratory tract samples of patients in the Eastern Cape during 2018. As this data reflects the susceptibility of all isolates,...
read moreA guide to diarrheagenic E.coli
E. coli is the major aerobic commensal organism in the gut and only causes disease following some disruption of gut, e.g. after penetrating injury. However, a number of E. coli strains or pathotypes possessing particular sets of virulence factors are...
read moreInfluenza Update 2019
South Africa carries a heavy influenza burden with more than 12000 deaths each year due to influenza associated severe acute respiratory illness. The most effective strategy to prevent influenza is vaccination.VaccinationAdminister the vaccine each year...
read moreGenetic testing for hereditary colorectal and endometrial cancer
Approximately 10% of all colorectal cancers (CRC) are hereditary. Patients who carry a pathogenic germline variant in a CRC-related gene have an increased risk to develop CRC, as well as other cancers. Genetic testing may confirm a diagnosis and help...
read moreGenetic testing for hereditary prostate cancer
Nearly 1 in 6 prostate cancer patients has a germline disease-causing genetic variant. A recent study in JAMA Oncology examining 3607 men with a personal history of prostate cancer has found that 17% had a germline disease-causing genetic variant. This...
read moreIron Deficiency Anaemia in Adults
Iron is an intriguing nutrient with many paradoxical characteristics. it is the most abundant element on our planet and yet it is hard for living organisms to access due to its very low solubility. Its ability to switch easily between the ferric and...
read moreSolid Tumours (Oncomine Focus)
We are pleased to announce the launch our Next Generation Sequencing panel for Solid tumours (Oncomine Focus assay). This has been done in an attempt to improve and streamline our molecular pathology testing offering. As opposed to testing for single gene...
read moreMinimum repeat intervals for procalcitonin (PCT) and C-reactive protein (CRP)
Procalcitonin (PCT) is a 116 amino acid peptide precursor of calcitonin. In the absence of infection, it is produced at very low levels in a few highly selected tissues. However, at the onset of infection bacterial factors and host inflammatory cytokines...
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