GENERAL

BIOCHEMISTRY

ASAP Laboratory has an AU680 chemistry system which is the latest addition to the line of laboratory analyzers from Beckman Coulter. The AU680 is based on extensive customer consultation and is made to assist laboratories with medium to high output meet their increasing needs.

Biochemistry covers:

  • General or routine chemistry - commonly ordered blood chemistries (e.g., liver and kidney function tests).
  • Special chemistry - elaborate techniques such as electophoresis and manual testing methods.
  • Endocrinology - the study of hormones, and diagnosis of endocrine disorders.
  • Toxicology - the study of drug testing and other chemicals.
  • Therapeutic drug monitoring - measurement of therapeutic medication levels to optimize dosage.
  • Urinalysis- chemical analysis of urine for a wide array of diseases, along with other fluids such as CSF

HAEMATOLOGY

The Siemens ADVIA 2120® uses Peroxidase stain which is the gold standard for WBC differentials, and therefore provides a higher degree of confidence and greater efficiency. Advanced cell separation technology allows for the differentiation of various disease states, including those associated with anaemia. Platelets examination analyse both extra-cellular and intracellular properties ensuring that large platelets are included in your counts, and known interferences are not.

Here at ASAP we do not exclude full blood film examination from ANY of our blood profiles (even our  un-interpreted profiles) as we believe in offering exceptional quality pathology.

No single haematology procedure produces more valuable information than a blood film examination.  Even the most expensive haematology analysers are not designed to pick up on all abnormalities.  Morphologic changes that an analyser cannot identify include left shifts, neutrophil toxicity, lymphocyte reactivity, WBC malignancy, RBC inclusions and platelet abnormalities.

The blood is the major method of transportation within the body, providing:

 ·       a means of movement of substances, including vital nutrients to cells

 ·       assisting in removal of waste products,

 ·       transport of cells and protective proteins to help fight infection

 ·       transport of important messages e.g. via the use of hormones and cytokines.

 Haematology encompasses a means of assessing and measuring the cellular components of the blood:

 ·       Red cells or erythrocytes are predominantly involved in oxygen transport and carbon dioxide removal

 ·       White blood cells or leukocytes are primarily involved in defense from invasion and infection

 ·       Platelets or thrombocytes responsible for initial protection from bleeding


HISTOPATHOLOGY

Histopathology is the preparation (by preservation, thin slicing or sectioning, and staining with various dyes) and microscopic examination of samples of tissue. With this type of laboratory examination, the diagnostic accuracy is usually high. The veterinary pathologist can often also add an opinion on the prognosis, or the most likely future progress of the case. If an entire mass of tissue is submitted for examination, the pathologist may also offer an opinion as to whether the cancer has been completely removed.

General points about fixation and submission of specimens:
1. Please remember the golden rule of specimen fixation – the optimal amount of formalin required for adequate fixation of tissue samples is ten times the volume of the sample size. Try to keep the simple ratio of 10:1 in mind at all times when potting a sample!

2. Please use a wide mouth pot at all times (no empty drug containers etc) so that once tissue is fixed (and is no longer flexible!) it can still be removed from the pot! ASAP provides a variety of wide-mouthed histo pot sizes free of charge for your (and our) convenience.

3. One last reminder –Incising the tissue to aid fixation is rarely, if ever, necessary. Incising small specimens results in distortions that may compromise the diagnosis and even large specimens can be submitted whole and will be “bread-sliced” in the laboratory once the skin is fixed to the underlying tissue. If you are wishing to have margins of a specimen examined, it is definitely preferable to not incise the specimen. Pre-fixation incisions cause tissue distortion and margin retraction, and will mean we cannot always provide a margin assessment. In assessing certain skin tumours, the relationship of the mass to the epithelium is also important in the histopathologic assessment, so incisions in the skin surface can make assessment and grading of a tumour more difficult. As is often the case, the quality in certainly affects the quality out!

Immunohistochemistry and special stains are available as required.

 

MICROBIOLOGY

The ASAP Microbiology department is located on site and is staffed full time.  All urine, faecal, hair, scrapes and swab submissions are processed by our specialised team with minimal delays from sample to plate time.

Comprehensive diagnostic and clinical microbiology services, including:

  • Routine and specialised bacteriology
  • Fungal pathogen isolation and identification
  • Mycobacterial pathogen isolation and identification
  • Clinical parasitology
  • Antibiotic sensitivity testing


INTERNAL MEDICINE CONSULTANCY

ASAP Laboratory provide a complimentary internal medicine consultancy service to help you get the most from your reference laboratory results. Dr Sue Foster works Monday - Wednesday and will return outstanding calls on those days by 5pm AEST. 

Please contact Sue on 0423 783 689, you may need to leave a message and indicate a suitable time for Sue to return your call.


Click here to learn more about our team.

ASAP REFERRAL TEST LIST