12th Annual Women’s Health Conference

The Laverty Pathology 12th Annual Women’s Health Conference will be held this year on Saturday 15 March 2014 at the University of New South Wales

Click here to download the Invitation.

Click here to download the Registration Form.

Private Pathology Overview- National Pathology Forum 2013

Ian Kadish, CEO, Laverty Pathology presented on “Private Pathology Overview” at the National Pathology Forum 2013.

Click HERE to download a PDF copy of the presentation.

Also feel free to view the presentation by Ian Kasish HERE.

This annual conference provides a platform for the public and private sectors to come together and discuss all the latest issues affecting the pathology sector in Australia.

For more information, please visit the conference website: http://www.informa.com.au/pathologyforum

‘Know Pathology’ are raising awareness

We would like to make you aware of an important initiative that has just launched to improve the AWARENESS of the VALUE of PATHOLOGY.

As you may be aware, pathology is poorly understood by the general public, by government and by other important stakeholders. Most Australians are not aware of the role and importance of pathology in almost every important medical diagnosis.  Few are aware that pathology provides the linchpin information for more than 70% of all medical decisions!

Whilst this lack of understanding continues, the vitally important role that each of us plays in enhancing the health of Australians will continue unappreciated and unrecognised.

The consequences of this lack of understanding as to the important role that we all play in maintaining the health of our fellow Australians – is that the Government entities, insurance companies and others continually reduce the resources and funding for the work that we do – in patient care, in teaching and training, in the cities and in the country, for both public and private patients.

For the first time ever, the industry has come together to form an industry-wide entity, called “Know Pathology”,  that has the sole aim of raising awareness among all Australians of the critical value that our specialist Pathologists, PhDs, Scientists, Collectors, Technical Officers and support staff play in ensuring that Australia maintains a health system in general, and a pathology system in particular, that is the envy of the world.

This industry entity is non-partisan and comprises all pathology industry participants  including  the College of Pathologists, pathology suppliers, the public pathology sector and each of the major private pathology sector participants.

It is important that each and every one of us takes the time and effort to register our support for this “Know Pathology” campaign. It is vitally important that we ensure that Australia’s high quality, highly effective and efficient pathology service is maintained for all Australians.

Please go to the link http://knowpathology.com.au/ and complete the section to Register your Support by completing your name, address and email account…see snapshot of the relevant section to be completed on the website below:

It is important that we do this, not only in our interest, but also  in the interests  of the patients that we serve.

Laverty offer iGeneScreen™ testing

Laverty Pathology are pleased to offer women access to an exciting innovation in pregnancy care. The iGeneScreen™ Non-Invasive Foetal Screening test is now availabe.

iGeneScreen™ – For Patients

• Make an appointment with your Specialist O&G, Fertility, Ultrasonologist or other doctor familiar with this test.
• Discuss the iGeneScreen™ test with your Doctor and fill out the request and consent forms.
• The test can be performed from when you are 12 weeks pregnant.
• Make sure that you understand the test and all your queries have been answered.
• Your doctor will inform you of the nearest Laverty Collection Centre designated to collect this specific test.
• Please note: Tests can be collected from Monday to Thursday until Midday ONLY and all collections must be pre booked.
  Please contact Collections on (02) 9005 7000.
• The result of your test will be sent directly to your requesting Doctor within approximately 2 weeks.
• The cost of the test is $1,200.00* and there is no Medicare rebate available. The cost is payable by credit card at the time of your pathology collection. Personal cheques are not accepted.

To download a patient information brochure click here.

iGeneScreen™ – For Doctors

Click here to download an iGeneScreen™ Doctor Information Sheet

Click here to download an iGeneScreen™ Request and Informed Consent Form.

If you would like to be added to the list of Doctors providing this test through Laverty Pathology, please email our marketing department by clicking here  and provide us with your name, practice name, address and phone number and we will include you on the next list update.

iGeneScreen™ is an INEX trademark for the non-invasive prenatal screening test developed by BGI.
Innovations Exchange (INEX) is a leading women’s health molecular diagnostic company focused on the research and development of innovative technology for the advancement of women’s, maternal and fetal health. http://www.inex.sg/

BGI is the world’s largest sequencing and bioinformatics institute for the advancement of genomics research and technology. www.genomics.cn/en

Spirometry Testing at Laverty Pathology

Accurate measurement of ventilatory function is now more accessible.

Measurement of ventilatory function is part of routine assessment of respiratory disease. Spirometry is the lung function test of choice for both diagnosis and serial assessment of obstructive airways disease.

The aim of spirometry in general practice is to assess variability of airflow obstruction, and to measure the degree of airflow obstruction compared with predicted normal values.

Current clinical practice guidelines recommend that all doctors managing asthma and COPD should have access to and use a spirometer for optimal assessment of lung function.

Most adults and children over 7 years of age can perform spirometry.

At Laverty Pathology, we offer accurate spirometry conforming to international standards, performed by experienced technicians, and reported by specialist physicians.

Download Laverty Pathology’s newsletter by clicking this link: Spirometry testing at Laverty Pathology

Spirometry Testing at Laverty Pathology

Accurate measurement of ventilatory function is now more accessible.

Measurement of ventilatory function is part of routine assessment of respiratory disease. Spirometry is the lung function test of choice for both diagnosis and serial assessment of obstructive airways disease.

The aim of spirometry in general practice is to assess variability of airflow obstruction, and to measure the degree of airflow obstruction compared with predicted normal values.

Current clinical practice guidelines recommend that all doctors managing asthma and COPD should have access to and use a spirometer for optimal assessment of lung function.

Most adults and children over 7 years of age can perform spirometry.

At Laverty Pathology, we offer accurate spirometry conforming to international standards, performed by experienced technicians, and reported by specialist physicians.

Download Laverty Pathology’s newsletter here: 

Prostate cancer treatment praised

Australia and New Zealand are among the best places in the world to be diagnosed with prostate cancer, according to a visiting US professor who says aggressive treatment is being avoided in many cases.

In many countries, a diagnosis of prostate cancer almost always leads to removal or radiation therapy. In Australia and New Zealand, however, many low-risk patients are being managed by active surveillance.This means they are monitored with regular blood tests, biopsies and MRIs and aggressive action is taken only if the disease becomes life-threatening. Visiting American professor James Eastham, who will address urologists at a conference in Melbourne on Monday, is full of praise for his colleagues in Australia and New Zealand. He says about one in three men who are newly diagnosed with prostate cancer are candidates for active surveillance. In Australia and New Zealand, about half of these are managed with active surveillance. This is well ahead of the US, where only about 10 per cent of eligible patients are managed by active surveillance. This leads to over-treatment. ‘I’m impressed. This is not the traditional way of treating cancer,’ said Prof Eastham, from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in New York. He will reassure the annual scientific meeting of the Urological Society of Australia and New Zealand that the latest research from around the world suggests active surveillance is a safe and effective way to manage patients. ‘It maximises quality of life without compromising quantity of life.’ Prof Eastham also agrees with the society’s position on screening men at the age of 40. ‘We know testing saves lives,’ he says.

Can Twitter prevent heart disease?

Twitter may help prevent heart disease, according to a new Australian study.

The fast and far-reaching way that information spreads through the social network has the potential to save lives by providing education about the illness, which the Heart Foundation says kills one Australian every 12 minutes.

A group of researchers from the University of Sydney reached that conclusion after studying 15 health-focused Twitter accounts with more than one million followers, nine professional organisations and six medical journals.

‘The study showed that, through its inherent networking, social media sites like Twitter have the potential to enhance education, awareness and overall management of cardiovascular disease,’ the university said in a statement.

The findings were published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology on Tuesday.

‘The popularity and rise of Twitter has made it a readily available, free, and user-friendly tool to disseminate information rapidly to a diverse audience, for example, to engage health professionals and heart attack survivors,’ said lead author, Associate Professor Julie Redfern.

‘In recent years, a growing number of health professionals have been using social media to share information.

‘In a survey of 485 oncologists and physicians, 24 per cent used social media at least daily to scan or explore medical information.’

Senior author Professor Chris Semsarian pointed to recent studies which suggested Twitter also spreads key information about quitting smoking and managing epileptic seizures.

Sonic’s proposal to acquire Healthscope Ltd in ACT and Southern Tablelands

Sonic Healthcare Limited proposed to acquire the pathology business of Healthscope Limited in the ACT and Southern Tablelands area.

On 16 May 2012, the ACCC commenced a review of Sonic’s proposed acquisition of the pathology businesses of Healthscope in Queensland, Western Australia and NSW/ACT. On 17 September, Sonic announced that it no longer proposed to acquire Healthscope’s pathology business in NSW/ACT, so the ACCC did not reach a decision on that proposed acquisition.

This review related to a new proposed acquisition, limited to the ACT and Southern Tablelands. In the previous review undertaken, the ACCC considered a number of relevant aspects of the pathology sector, including in the ACT and Southern Tablelands area. The ACCC therefore undertook targeted market inquiries only.

Read the full review here: http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/1099830/fromItemId/751046

Automated Clinical Pathology Laboratory Specimen Processing

German Researchers Create ’Smart Test Tube’ That Can Revolutionize Automated Clinical Pathology Laboratory Specimen Processing 

Fully automated approach to medical laboratory testing emphasizes automated sample documentation.

Pathologists and clinical laboratory administrators know that tracking individual tubes of patient specimens continues to be a huge challenge for medical laboratories. Now, researchers in Germany may be on the way to solving the problem with their invention of “smart” test tubes. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering (IBMT) in Saarland developed a test tube that interacts with a central control network, according to a press release. Their primary goal is to enable specimen data to be processed automatically, particularly with regard to documentation.

Eliminating Need for Medical Laboratory Techs to Manually Enter Data.

In Germany, it is common for medical laboratory technicians to manually write information on test tubes. More recently, barcoding and scanners have speeded up the specimen tracking process. However, barcoding has a drawback. The information contained in the barcode cannot be edited, the press release noted. Researchers at IBMT developed a test tube with a tiny microchip embedded into the plastic. When the test tube is placed in an analyzer, equipment can record details onto the embedded chip. In this way, the chip can store a specimen’s entire history. That means there is no need for a clinical laboratory technician to write up a laboratory report on the sample. “Usually, samples are accompanied by a report slip,” observed IBMT’s Daniel Schmitt, Ph.D., the project leader quoted in the press release. “With test tube chips, the sample and the information are inseparably linked, and there is no way for information to go astray.”

Although specifically designed as a solution to automate manual tube labeling methods commonly used in medical laboratories in Germany, the new “smart test tubes” developed by researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering (IBMT) in Saarland can be used by clinical laboratories in other countries. The smart test tubes have an embedded chip that allows data from analyzers to be written to the chip. (Photo copyright ARUP Laboratories.) More recently, Schmitt’s research team combined the microchip with a tiny data antenna, similar to those used in radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags. This allows close-range radio communication. The antennas facilitate sample inventory by making it possible to query test tube chips from outside their steel casing storage unit. The innovative technology is part of IBMT’s program, “ Labor der Zukunft”, which means “laboratory of the future” in German.

System Borrows Technology from Automotive Diagnostics

The IBMT scientists, in collaboration with the Technische Universität Braunschweig, developed an integrated network system, known as a smallCAN bus system. It is similar to systems used for automotive diagnostics. The integrated data network system connects all the equipment to a central control point. A bus subsystem transfers data between components inside a computer, or between computers. The system also makes it possible to access individual pieces of equipment over the internet. In addition to the smallCAN bus system, the IBMT team developed new software to manage the analysis process. They worked with Soventec GmbH to develop the LabOS laboratory software platform. The management system makes it possible to read a sample’s history on a display screen when the test tube is placed in a reader. The software will also indicate the next steps. The entire process is paperless. “Using smallCAN and LabOS, we can make lab operations almost entirely self-contained and testing can take place automatically,” stated Schmitt in the press release. New Lab Automation Technology Deployed in Mobile Labs in African. This new technology for medical laboratory specimen tubes is particularly useful in remote areas where blood samples have to travel a long way, according to the press release. An example is the transport of blood infected with HIV from Africa for use in AIDS research.

IBMT and its partners are demonstrating the effectiveness of this new technology via a mobile clinical laboratory that is travelling throughout South Africa. The mobile lab primarily performs lab tests used to diagnose AIDS and tuberculosis. “Our central control module even gives us access to truck data, for instance the current temperature inside the lab,” declared Schmitt. He also noted that this automation technology can be put to use in traditional clinical laboratories. “Once you’ve managed to set up that sort of apparatus—in such a tiny space, and to operate on the move—a normal [medical] lab is child’s play,” said Schmitt.