Laboratory system to support liver transplantation
Tozuka, M.; Honda, T.
Rinsho Byori. Japanese Journal of Clinical Pathology 48(11): 1006-1013
2000
ISSN/ISBN: 0047-1860 PMID: 11132553 Document Number: 524052
It is beyond doubt that clinical examination is one of the essential issues in(living-related) liver transplantation as well as other clinical cases. To support liver transplantation, our laboratory has prepared efficient systems and has been trying to improve these systems as follows. 1) We need to construct a system to be able to comply with clinical requests. Thus, we need to know what kinds of laboratory examinations are likely to be required before, during, and after transplant surgery. In general, common laboratory examinations are sufficient to support liver transplantation. The most important thing is whether all the clinical examinations required can be assayed anytime. However, only general biochemical tests and complete blood count are provided outside standard laboratory hours by the medical technologist on duty because of staffing limitation and differences in each specialty. Therefore, we recently introduced a 24-hour on-call system in addition to the system described above. Actually, five persons in charge from each of the five groups divided by each specialty carry the pocket-bells in turns. 2) We supply a report to support the diagnosis and treatment. The report should include opinions and suggestions. A supplementary examination would be recommended if considered necessary. 3) To supply effective comments, we must improve our abilities to understand pathologic findings obtained from laboratory data. Especially, timely biopsy for the diagnosis of rejection depends on a proper interpretation of laboratory tests. Therefore, we need to investigate past cases after liver transplantation using statistical estimations and advanced examinations.