CONGRESS: 22–25 SEPTEMBER 2025
Urine trouble: UTI diagnostics past and future
Dr Annie Joseph
Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust
Urine sample showing pyuria typical of urinary tract infection.
be reviewed, illustrating the potential use of this assay for differentiating HAE subtypes and assessing HAE patients on treatment.
Intrathecal inflammation, the neuroimmunology laboratory’s role Nicholas Armfield The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust
The Walton Centre Neuroimmunology laboratory provides insight into neuroinflammation by offering the classical tests oligoclonal bands by isoelectric focusing and CSF index. With the emergence and characterisation of CSF κ Free Light Chain, recent work has explored the benefits of alternative laboratory markers of intrathecal inflammation with practically global applications. CSF κ Free Light Chain has been recommended for the next McDonald Criteria for Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis. This presentation will introduce the many forms in which CSF κ Free Light Chain can be determined and contextualise its use in the next phase of neuroinflammation diagnostics. The presentation will summarise literature and present a Walton Centre study.
Neurofilament light chain: An emerging biomarker for neurodegenerative disease Kirsty Swallow Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
The management of neurological diseases is complex and often burdensome for patients. There is a
36
clear clinical need to be able to monitor patients for signs of axonal damage or degeneration. Recent evidence and clinical practice have identified the measurement of neurofilament light chain (NfL) as a tool to better diagnose and monitor patients with such neurological conditions as multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.
Generally, the sample type required for analysis is CSF, which is obtained via lumbar puncture. Advances in technology have allowed more sensitive assays to be developed which allow NfL to be detected at very low level in serum. This benefits the patient in several ways, such as reducing the number of invasive procedures and providing a simple but effective way to monitor progression and treatment of the underlying condition.
Using genomics for gastrointestinal illness: a public health revolution Anaïs Painset Gastrointestinal Bacteria Reference Unit, UK Health Security Agency
This presentation will discuss the shift from molecular techniques to whole- genome sequencing (WGS) within a public health agency. The speaker will explain the types of information that can be obtained through WGS and how these genomic data can be integrated with surveillance efforts to effectively respond to outbreaks. To illustrate this, she will provide examples of gastrointestinal outbreaks and how WGS has been used to enhance our response.
Urinary tract diagnostics, like urinary tract infection (pictured), are a neglected area of medical microbiology. With rising Gram-negative resistance, there is finally more focus on improving and modernising the diagnostic tests that have remained essentially unchanged since Kass’s era in the 1950s. What do we know now that wasn’t known back then? Where did the current diagnostic thresholds and methods come from? And can we do better in 2025 for our patients? The presentation will aim to give delegates i) a perspective on how current UTI diagnostic tests came to become routine clinical microbiology laboratory practice; ii) understand the problems with current POC and laboratory diagnostic tests for UTI; iii) appreciate how new UTI diagnostic tests are being developed and how these might change the clinical landscape; and iv) contemplate the potential for a mixture of diagnostic approaches to UTI in the future.
Haemolysis in samples for blood gas analysis Nicky Hollowood Harrogate & District NHS Foundation Trust
The leading cause of errors in results generated from POCT devices (specifically blood gas analysers) is pre-analytical sample collection and preparation. It is critical that a user of a blood gas analyser collects a high-quality venous, arterial or capillary blood sample; ensuring that any air is removed, the sample is capped and it is sufficiently mixed with anticoagulant prior to analysis. Users of the gas analyser have no indication of whether the sample they have collected is haemolysed and they have to use their clinical decision-making skills to assess whether the potassium result generated could be influenced by haemolysis or whether the potassium result fits the clinical picture. This can be especially challenging in emergency and neonatal medicine where time is of the essence and fast decisions need to be made (usually before the laboratory result is returned). The issue of generating a falsely high potassium result has the potential to lead to patients being diagnosed with a pseudohyperkalaemia (falsely reported raised potassium- clinically normal) or psedonormokalaemia (falsely reported normal potassium- clinically low).
AUGUST 2025
WWW.PATHOLOGYINPRACTICE.COM
Ajay Kumar Chaurasiya CC BY-SA 4.0 Wikimedia Commons
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72
