Week 1 - Intro Flashcards
What is the definition of clinical pathology?
Clinical pathology is the study of disease in the clinical environment by use of laboratory assays.
Clinical pathology = ?
Pattern recognition.
Hematology
* Complete blood count (CBC)
* Blood smear examination
Clinical chemistry
* Biochemistry profile
Coagulation tests
Blood gas analysis
Endocrinology
What should a validity test measure?
A valid test should measure the parameter (“analyte”) of interest over a range of values with minimal interferences.
An abnormal value of an analyte should have ?
a strong association with a disease or condition.
* Few false positive and few false negative results
* Important to establish medical decision limit (cut-off)
value
No laboratory test is _________, and ________ tests are often used in combination to ______ or __________ a disease
perfect, several, diagnose, categorize
Test Sensitivity and Specificity both depend on?
the prevalence of a
disease
True or False: NO test has 100% sensitivity and 100% specificity.
True
There is always a margin of error.
Define test sensitivity.
Sensitivity = ability of a test to detect patients who
truly have a disease (true positives, or TP).
What does a test exhibiting high sensitivity mean?
- Higher sensitivity = a diseased patient is more likely to test positive
If sensitivity of PCR for lymphoma = 91% what does that mean?
- Tested in 100 animals with lymphoma:
- 91% have positive result
- 9% have false negative result
What is important in regards to sensitivity for screening tests?
Important to have high sensitivity for a screening test
* A negative result of a highly sensitive test effectively rules out a disease
Tests with high sensitivity are best used for ?
ruling OUT a disease (“SnOUT”)
Define test specificity.
Specificity = ability of a test to detect patients that
truly do not have a disease (true negatives, or TN)
What does a test exhibiting high specificity mean?
Higher specificity means a non-diseased patient is more likely to test negative
If test specificity is 95%, then out of 100 animals
without the disease?
- 95% of animals will have a negative test result
- 5% of animals will have false positive results
What is important in regards to specificity for confirmatory tests?
Important to have high specificity for a confirmatory test
* Few non-diseased patients will incorrectly test positive (false positive)
Test with High Specificity are best for?
ruling in a disease (“SpIN”)
aka In other words, good for confirming a diagnosis
Sensitive test: when negative result?
rules OUT the disease
Specific test when positive result?
rules IN the disease
Reference intervals
How do we know what values are normal?
Each lab should have its own RI for each species
Each lab should have its own RI (especially based on state, country, etc).
What can be seen below?
Reference interval chart.
Reference Intervals (RI) are established from how many samples?
preferably 60, and ideally 120 samples
In regards to reference intervals, data are?
analyzed and typically fit a normal (Gaussian)
distribution
What do reference intervals represent?
RI represents typical values seen in 95% of healthy animals
How many healthy animals will fall below the RI? Above? Outside?
- 2.5% of healthy animals will be below the RI, and
2.5% of healthy animals above the RI - 1/20 healthy animals will have a result outside of
the RI
Are results within the reference interval range considered to be normal? Explain why or why not?
- Result within the reference interval (WRI), it is not
necessarily “normal” - May not be normal for a given disease process
- Common to have 2 disease processes/pathologic states
“pushing” and “pulling” the result to be within the
reference interval - Do NOT overlook values that aren’t flagged as high
(H) or low (L)!
How can errors in laboratory results occur?
- Errors: instrument/analyzer, reagents, or operator
A pre-analytical error is a result in?
Pre-analytical error: collection of the sample