The following information was updated in the Lab Catalog.
All changes are for Corewell Health West Laboratories.
For East and South locations, please visit: corewellhealth.org/labcatalog
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Internal Medicine
The following information was updated in the Lab Catalog.
All changes are for Corewell Health Laboratories West.
The following information was updated in the Lab Catalog.
All changes are for Corewell Health Laboratories West.
This winter, West Michigan influenza infections peaked in February 2024 and significantly declined throughout March and April 2024. Now with a low prevalence of circulating influenza, using the most sensitive diagnostic test is recommended in order to obtain accurate and actionable results. Influenza antigen testing (e.g. Sofia instrument) is no longer appropriate at this time and Influenza PCR testing should be ordered when clinically indicated.
| Low Influenza Prevalence |
High Influenza Prevalence |
|
| Recommended Order | Influenza PCR (LAB3255) | Influenza antigen testing (e.g. Sofia instrument) or Influenza PCR (LAB3255) |
More detailed information can be found as published by the CDC:
Effective Thursday, April 18, 2024, Corewell Health Laboratory will discontinue the send out test Hepatitis A IgG Antibody, Serum (Mayo Test ID: HAIGG). This test has been made obsolete by Mayo Clinic Laboratories. We recommend to our healthcare providers the following in-house testing:
1.Hepatitis A Total Antibody (LAB1230596): intended for the clinical laboratory diagnosis of acute or past hepatitis A virus infection in persons with signs or symptoms of hepatitis and in persons at increased risk for hepatitis A infection, to identify HAV susceptible individuals and to determine the presence of an antibody response to HAV in vaccine recipients.
2.Hepatitis A Antibody, IgM (LAB7980): intended for use as an aid in the laboratory diagnosis of an acute or recently acquired hepatitis A virus infection.
Effective February 7, 2024, at 7:30 AM, Corewell Health West Laboratories will go live with a new reference range for the calculated Anion Gap (AG). The AG reference range will be adjusted to align with recent reference range studies.
The following will be the new normal reference ranges for AG:
Anion Gap: 5 – 14 mmol/L
As of January 26, 2024, for the following tests, the testing platform has changed from EliA Fluorescence Enzyme Immunoassay (FEIA) from Thermofisher to Multiplex Flow Immunoassay from Biorad. Please review the lab catalog for any changes to collection information or reference ranges.
• Anti-dsDNA Antibody
• Cyclic Citrullinated Peptide (CCP) Antibody
• Celiac Antibody Cascade
• Tissue Transglutaminase Antibody
• Gliadin Antibodies
Effective December 20, 2023, Rheumatoid Factor, IgM, Quantitative will be replaced with Rheumatoid Factor.
Influenza cases numbers are currently increasing throughout West Michigan. Influenza prevalence guides the most appropriate testing approach and sufficient prevalence has now been reached for influenza rapid antigen or point of care testing (e.g. Sofia instrument) to have improved performance. The use of point of care testing as a screening method during high prevalence reduces both the cost to the patient and turn-around-time as compared to lab-based molecular methods. Point of care tests generally have high analytical specificity, but lack the sensitivity of nucleic acid amplification methods (e.g. PCR). For this reason, PCR testing is still recommended for hospitalized patients and for outpatients with a negative result if influenza is still suspected and if the result will impact clinical decision making.
| Low influenza prevalence | High influenza prevalence | |
| Recommended order | Influenza PCR | Influenza Point of Care Testing or Influenza PCR |