ICYMI: Around the Journals September 2021

AJCP and Lab Medicine journals publish original research, case studies, and more that is important to pathology and laboratory medicine.

Here are some highlights you may have missed.

In AJCP….

To Wyatt Earp, accuracy was everything—and that was critical in the American Old West. In pathology, accuracy refers to how close a measurement is to its true value, write the authors of a recent editorial. Read on to learn more about out how accuracy in pathology goes beyond just the need for a ruler, and the impacts of accuracy on invasive breast carcinoma.

A second research article looking at breast carcinoma compared clinical state and greatest dimension values. And while they found that clinical and pathologic T-staging values agree only moderately, pathologists face challenges in increasing the precision of gross tumor measurements.

Studying the pathologic spectrum of kidney diseases in patients with hepatitis C is important for the betterment of patient care. Find out what these authors discovered over the course of a 10-year study.

In Laboratory Medicine…

It’s no secret that the laboratory workforce is facing a shortage. The COVID-19 pandemic worsened the shortage, and is also impacting the programs that help train new medical laboratory scientists. A recent article in Laboratory Medicine provides strategies to help sustain university-based MLS programs.

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is the most commonly encountered leukemia in the clinical lab. This recent review explores the pathophysiology of smudge cells and how they affect white blood cell differentials in CLL, and how those results can impact clinical decisions.

Regulations for clinical laboratories in the U.S. are complex, and a recent review looks at improving the clarity of laboratory-developed test regulation and how that can facilitate innovation.