Study Flags Alpha-Gal Syndrome Risk in Blood Transfusions

Elizabeth McMahon
0:02

A

tick-borne

disease

could

spell

trouble

for

patients

who

need

blood

transfusions.

Plus,

can

AI

really

record

and

replicate

every

move

in

a

successful

lab

experiment?

One

company

thinks

it

can

be

done.

This

is

Path

News

Network

Daily

edition

from

the

College

of

American

Pathologists.

I'm

Elizabeth

McMahon.

It's

Wednesday,

September

2nd.

Alpha

Gal

syndrome,

the

tick-borne

illness

that

can

trigger

allergic

reactions

to

red

meat

and

animal

byproducts,

can

also

complicate

blood

transfusions.

A

new

study

finds.

The

Alpha

Gal

molecule

closely

resembles

the

B

antigen

in

blood,

which

can

cause

a

reaction

when

alpha

gal

antibodies

mistakenly

bind

to

the

blood

type.

Researchers

from

Dartmouth

Hitchcock

Medical

Center

tested

the

association

in

patients

with

alpha

gal

and

type

O

blood,

transfusing

them

with

blood

type

B

or

AB

units.

They

found

that

patients

in

U.S.

regions

with

a

high

prevalence

of

Alpha

Gal

syndrome

had

significantly

more

allergic

reactions

than

those

with

O

blood

type

who

received

O

units.

The

results,

published

in

JAMA

Internal

Medicine,

did

not

find

increased

reactions

in

regions

with

a

low

prevalence

of

Alpha

Gal

syndrome.

Urinalysis

is

one

of

the

most

common

lab

tests

detecting

and

counting

cells,

crystals,

and

organisms

in

urine

that

could

indicate

infection

or

disease.

When

a

scan

is

abnormal,

technologists

go

in

for

a

closer

look.

Ensuring

the

human

review

is

as

accurate

as

the

initial

scan

is

critical

for

this

high-volume

test,

says

Dr.

Keri

Donaldson,

Vice

Chair

of

Clinical

Pathology

at

Geisinger

Medical

Laboratories.

He

says

the

CAP's

new

urine

sediment

morphology

assessment

program

helps

labs

achieve

the

highest

competency

in

their

reviews.

Dr. Keri Donaldson
2:05

It's

a

material

that

allows

the

individual

to

understand

are

they

picking

up

what

they

should

see,

right?

The

cast,

the

presence

or

absence

of

these

crystals

or

the

microorganisms,

and

it

allows

the

laboratory

to

compare

the

performance,

right,

across

different

individuals.

So

both

of

those

things

are

really

essential

from

a

compliance

and

a

quality

perspective,

right?

Both

the

querying

of

the

individual's

performance

as

well

as

comparing

that

within

your

institution

or

even

between

institutions

that

you

can

do

with

the

survey

materials.

Elizabeth McMahon
2:36

The

urine

sediment

assessment

is

one

of

several

quality

improvement

offerings

and

tools

available

for

2027

delivery

at

the

CAP's

Proficiency

Testing

Section

at

the

Laboratory

Quality

Solutions

page.

Advances

in

cancer

research

and

treatment

are

generating

data

with

promising

implications

for

patients.

But

how

can

pathologists

better

structure,

share,

and

integrate

all

that

data

to

improve

outcomes?

That's

the

focus

of

the

Future

of

Cancer

Data

Summit

on

October

2nd

at

the

WIN

Las

Vegas,

just

prior

to

the

CAP

26

kickoff.

Dr.

Mark

Tuthill,

head

of

pathology

informatics

at

Henry

Ford

Health,

will

lead

a

session.

He

says

collaboration

is

vital

in

this

complex

and

growing

field.

Dr. Mark Tuthill
3:38

These

elements

are

complicated.

There's

somewhere

on

the

order

of

1100

to

1200

different

possible

permutations

of

how

all

of

these

factors

interact

with

one

another.

So

this

is

complicated.

And

what

we

know

is

that

the

outcomes

that

patients

experience

are

not

told

very

clearly

by

those

numbers.

So

how

do

we

get

better?

How

do

we

become

more

consistent?

How

do

we

recognize

which

therapies

are

really

impacting

cancer

care?

Uh,

and

which

therapies

we

need

to

do

a

better

job

at,

uh,

either

getting

it

to

the

patient

earlier

or

to

refine

those

treatments

so

that

they're

more

impactful.

So

just

a

lot

to

talk

about.

Elizabeth McMahon
4:23

The day will

include

case

examples

across

CAP

electronic

cancer

protocols,

informatics

tools,

AI

opportunities,

and

others.

And

finally,

why

does

lab

research

succeed

or

fail?

Many

factors

can

spell

success

or

doom

for

an

experiment,

so

sharing

protocols,

the

procedures

and

decisions

that

comprise

an

experiment's

recipe,

are

vital

for

others

to

reproduce

the

results.

But

scientists

can't

replicate

a

study

just

by

reading

it.

Enter

AI.

A

recent

New

York

Times

article

follows

the

story

of

a

system

called

transfer

that's

ingesting

data

about

what

happens

in

the

lab

using

video,

audio,

and

sensors

attached

to

scientists

and

lab

equipment.

The

goal?

To

track

and

document

variations

and

procedures

to

make

science

better.

Though

the

Massachusetts-based

company's

technology

could

improve

some

areas,

a

Cardiff

University

sociologist

who

studies

scientific

knowledge

said,

quote,

it's

not

a

silver

bullet

for

scientific

problems.

That's

all

for

today's

Daily

Edition.

Be

sure

to

check

the

show

notes

for

more

information

on

CAP's

new

quality

improvement

programs

and

the

Cancer

Data

Summit.

Got

a

story

you'd

like

us

to

cover

on

the

Daily

Edition?

Write

to

us

at

stories

at

Cap.org.

We're

back

at

5

a.m.

Eastern

for

another

episode

of

the

Daily

Edition.

I'm

Elizabeth

McMahon.

Have

a

great

day.