NEWS
IBMS and Hologic link up for new digital cytology report
The Institute of Biomedical Science (IBMS) has collaborated with Hologic to produce a new report on digital cytology, which it says promises enhanced efficiency, improved patient care, and solutions to workforce shortages, amid critical challenges in the UK’s cervical screening programme. The IBMS and Hologic report, Digital Cytology: A Transformative Solution for Cervical Screening in the UK, addresses the urgent challenges facing the UK’s cervical screening programme, including workforce shortages, increasing backlogs, and the need for improved efficiency. The report is the result of an in-depth roundtable discussion at IBMS, where experts from the profession, industry, commissioners, and key stakeholders convened to address the pressing issues in cervical cancer screening. This comprehensive paper highlights the potential of digital cytology to transform cervical screening in the UK, drawing on successful implementations in other countries and addressing the specific needs of the UK healthcare system. The UK’s cervical screening programme
is currently facing significant hurdles, including an ageing workforce, increasing backlogs, and the risk of service deterioration. Digital cytology offers a compelling solution, with the potential to enhance workflow efficiency, improve patient outcomes, and alleviate the workforce crisis.
IBMS Chief Executive David Wells commented: “By integrating digital cytology into our cervical screening programme, we can ensure that our services are robust, efficient, and capable of delivering the highest standard of patient care.”
Novel point-of-care heart attack test
A new, rapid blood test that spots whether people are having a heart attack could improve the treatment of people presenting with chest pain at emergency departments, according to late breaking research presented in a Hot Line Session at this year’s ESC Congress 2024 in London. “This simple test only requiring a drop of blood can be performed within eight minutes without the need for a laboratory,” said author Viola Thulin from Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway. “Use of point-of-care testing on arrival at hospital has the potential to speed up diagnosis or rule out heart attack and reduce the amount of time some patients spend in the emergency department.” Accelerated diagnostic protocols are
recommended for fast triage and safe early discharge of low-risk chest pain patients. These include the diagnostic gold standard high-sensitivity cardiac troponin (hs-cTn) test for patients presenting with suspected ACS.
Conventional ‘rule out’ or ‘rule in’ hs-cTn testing is done using two blood samples taken at presentation and one-to-three hours later, with a turnaround time of
approximately 60 minutes. The WESTCOR POC randomised clinical trial compared the efficacy and safety of a 0-hour and 1-hour novel POC hs -cTn test (Atellica VTLi, Siemens Healthineers) with conventional 0-hour and 1-hour central laboratory hs -cTn testing. The POC test had previously been shown to have similar accuracy and precision to standard central laboratory testing. The researchers found that the median (average) length of stay in the emergency department was 174 minutes for the POC testing group compared to 180 minutes in the standard testing group. However, among patients who were seen more quickly by a physician (within 60 minutes), POC testing reduced the length of stay in the emergency department by 15 minutes (147 versus 162 minutes). Notably, POC testing provided the most benefit for patients diagnosed with non-ST- elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI), shortening emergency department stay by on average 43 minutes compared to the standard test (median 137 versus 180 minutes), with these high-risk patients being admitted to the cardiac ward faster.
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