Accuprobe Awareness

  Coronary artery disease (CAD) is one of the leading causes of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Atherosclerosis often develops silently for years before presenting with angina, myocardial infarction or other cardiovascular events. Therefore, preventive health assessment should not begin only when symptoms appear. Laboratory investigations can help identify several important and potentially modifiable cardiovascular risk factors at an earlier stage. However, no single blood test can diagnose or exclude CAD in an asymptomatic individual. The value lies in interpreting a group of laboratory parameters together with age, blood pressure, family history, smoking, obesity, diabetes and other clinical factors. Lipid Profile: The Foundation of Cardiovascular Risk Assessment A lipid profile remains one of the most important laboratory investigations for cardiovascular risk assessment. It generally includes total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol (LDL-C), HDL cholesterol (HDL-C) and trigl...

In laboratory medicine, a test result's accuracy depends not only on the analyser and analytical process but also on the quality of the specimen submitted for testing. Anticoagulant contamination of a serum (or other) sample is an important but often overlooked pre-analytical error that can produce misleading laboratory results, even when the analyser is functioning perfectly and internal quality control is within acceptable limits. Serum samples are generally collected in plain or serum-separator tubes and are allowed to clot before centrifugation. Contamination may occur when additives from other blood collection tubes inadvertently enter the serum specimen. This can happen because of an incorrect order of draw , inappropriate blood transfer between tubes, collection from an intravenous line, improper phlebotomy technique, or accidental use of the wrong tube . Anticoagulants are not simply inert substances. They contain chemicals specifically designed to alter coagulation or pre...