Introduction to Clinical Pathology Flashcards
what is clinical pathology
study of disease, pathophysiology, and treatment ina clinical environment by the use of laboratory assays
what are some laboratory assays used in clinical pathology
CBC
coagulation assays
cytology samples
clinical chemistry assays/ urinalysis
what assay is used to evaluate hematopoietic system
CBC
what assay is used to evaluate hemostasis
coagulation assay
what assay is used to evaluate organs, tumors, lesions
cytology samples
what assay is used to evaluate renal, liver, respiratory, cardiovascular, GI, muscular-skeletal and endocrine systems
clinical chemistry assays / urinalysis
define pathogenesis
series of events that leads to disease
what can alert a pathologic event
changes in tissues, cells, or fluids in abnormal lab data
what are the types of assays
qualitative
semiquantitative
quantitative
which type of assay will tell you if something is present or absent / positive or negative
qualitative
what are some qualitative tests
urinalysis sediment with epithelial cells present
fat droplets detected in a pleural fluid
which assay will give an approximate concentration or estimate
semiquantitative
what are some examples of semiquantitative assays
platelet estimate on a blood film
urine dipstick measurement of certain analytes
which assay will attempt to get a concentration
quantitative
true or false:
a reference interval is a range of results we expect to see in healthy animals
true
what is a reference interval
an interval between and including the 2 reference limits
true or false:
it is difficult to determine normal values for an animal
true
what are some variables that can change a reference interval interpretation
too many variable - can have results in WRI with pathological processes
many sick animals have normal data
true or false:
an animal not WRI is not reason to suspect pathological state
false
an animal not WRI is a clue for presence of pathologic state
what is calculated from a population or group of healthy adult animals of a given species for a given test
population-based reference intervals
true or false:
because each WRI is established by each laboratory, you cannot apply ref. interval from other labs because different instruments and methods can give disparate results
true
true or false:
all assay results may contain error
true
what is the most common error found in assay results
preanalytical errors (50-75% of all errors)
what is the goal of a quality assurance program
keep errors so small that they do not affect the interpretation of laboratory data
which type of assay result error has test results only as good as the sample
preanalytical errors
what are some reasons for preanalytical errors occurring
patient not prepared for sampling
poor collection of samples
incorrect collection container
poor sample handling
which type of assay error is a result of poor analytical properties of the assay
analytical errors
which type of assay error is a result of transcriptional and verbal report errors
post-analytical errors
what determines analytical precision
the repeatability of a test/result
what determines the analytical accuracy of a test
if known standards, does the assay produce the expected concentration
what determines assay analytical specificity
the ability to detect analyte of interest when interfering substances are present
what determines the analytical sensitivity of an assay
the ability to detect differences between concentrations
what is the lowest detectable concentration
detection limit
what is in whole blood
cells + plasma
what is in plasma
93% water and proteins w/ fibrinogen
what is in serum
plasma without fibrinogen
