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Welcome Foundation for Quality Assessment in Medical Laboratory Diagnostics

The SKML aims to promote the quality of medical laboratory investigation involving diagnostics and treatment in order to raise and maintain the standard as high as possible. The External Quality Assessment Scheme (EQAS) involves the implementation of EQAS schemes of all medical laboratory disciplines.

NEWS

New publication Parasitology section

06-07-2023 - The Parasitology section has a new publication: "An International External Quality Assessment Scheme to Assess the Diagnostic Performance of Polymerase Chain Reaction Detection of Acanthamoeba Keratitis".

In 2022 the SKML section parasitology had developed the first an external quality assessment scheme for detection by DNA amplification methods of the protozoan parasite Acanthamoeba spp., which can cause serious eye infections (keratitis).Since the SKML distributes specimens with real parasites as well as purified DNA, efficiency of the entire procedure, as well as the DNA amplification step, could be evaluated. The results indicate that a pretreatment procedure can be a risky step in PCR-baseddetections of Acanthamoeba, but it improves the sensitivity and reliability, especially of samples containing cysts. Therefore, participation in an EQAS is informative for routine diagnostic laboratories and can assist in improving the laboratory proceduresused for the diagnosis of Acanthamoeba keratitis.

The full publicaton can be found under menu Services>Publications.

New publication KKGT section

15-06-2023 - The KKGT section has a new publication: "Busulfan Interlaboratory Proficiency Testing Program Revealed Worldwide Errors in Drug Quantitation and Dose Recommendations".

This article provides an overview of the results of the international proficiency test Busulfan. Busulfan is a drug used in the treatment of leukemia prior to a stem cell transplant. Because the drug is very toxic, and the required dosage differs for each patient, busulfan concentrations are measured in the blood of the patients. The dosages then adjusted on the basis of that concentration. What makes the measurement even more difficult is that busulfan decomposes quickly, so technically this analysis also presents the necessary challenges. In this article, the authors show that major improvements are still needed worldwide in the analysis and dose advice of busulfan, and that participation in a proficiency test can help to achieve this.

The full publicaton can be found under menu Services>Publications and in PubMed.

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