Effective June 17, 2019, Anti-Müllerian Hormone (AMH) testing will change from a sendout reference test to Mayo Clinic Laboratories to an in-house test performed by Spectrum Health Regional Laboratory.
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Chemistry
Chemistry, Compliance & Safety, Education & Training, General Information, Referral/Sendouts
Preservative For 24 Hour Urine Collections
In both the inpatient and outpatient settings, the laboratory has supplied 24 hour urine containers with preservative such as acetic acid, sodium hydroxide, and boric acid. Upon review of specimen stability requirements, it has been determined that a preservative is not needed prior to collection of most 24 hour urine tests as long as the 24 hour container is kept refrigerated or on ice during the collection period.
Spectrum Health has been informed by Roche Diagnostics that the proprietary reagents used to calibrate our instruments and determine control values for ferritin blood level have been updated to reflect deviation of results leading to low result bias. This may have led to patient results being up to 20% lower than actual ferritin level.
Chemistry, Compliance & Safety, General Information
Reference Range Update – OB Magnesium, Blood Level
Effective immediately, the OB Magnesium (Mg) reference range has been updated from 1.6 to 2.5 mg/dL to 4.8 to 8.0 mg/dL, to reflect the correct therapeutic range for patients receiving magnesium sulfate therapy. The non-OB magnesium reference range is unchanged.
Please direct questions and inquiries to Dr. Jennifer Stumph via the Contact Us link above.
TEST INFORMATION
OB Magnesium, Blood Level – Epic code #LAB3400, Interface code #11703, CPT code #83735
Spectrum Health Regional Laboratory is adjusting the Microalbumin Analytic Measurement Range (AMR) in order to standardize within the Spectrum Health Hospital System and to align with our vendor’s (Roche Diagnostics) recommendations. The lower limit of the Microalbumin AMR will be changed from 0.50 to 1.20 mg/dL. Results below the AMR will now be reported as < 1.20 mg/dL. The upper limit will remain the same at 444.00 mg/dL.
Effective January 1, 2019, Spectrum Health Regional Laboratory will no longer offer Magnesium, Red Blood Cell [LAB104] as an option for send out testing. This testing will no longer be available through Spectrum Health’s primary reference laboratory, Mayo Clinic Laboratories. This test will become obsolete on January 7, 2019, due to limited clinical utility.
Chemistry, Compliance & Safety, General Information
Reference Range Update: Anti-Thyroid Peroxidase Antibody
As of October 1, 2018, the reference interval for Anti-Thyroid Peroxidase Antibody levels has been updated to 0.0 to 34.9 IU/mL from 0.0 to 8.9 IU/mL. This change is due in part to client feedback resulting in an audit of the existing range and leading to discovery that it had not been updated when the instrument had been changed.
We appreciate and welcome any and all client feedback; if you identify what may appear to be an incorrect reference interval, please notify us immediately using the “Contact Us” link above.
Effective August 8th, Spectrum Health Laboratory will ask all patients to indicate how long they have been fasting (regardless of whether they were fasting or not) when they present for Lipid testing. In light of recent discussions in the literature that debate the utility of fasting prior to lipid testing; we recognize that some clinicians may now not require their patients to be fasting and hope that reporting out length of fasting (hours) with each lipid result will allow all clinicians to better interpret their patient’s lipid results. If fasting is desired; Spectrum Health Laboratory recommends no caloric or caffeine intake for at least 8 hours. The patient is not to drink (other than water), eat, smoke, chew gum, candy, cough drops, etc. for at least 8 hours prior to their blood tests. Prescribed medications are allowed.