speaker:
Amir Karin earned his PhD in Chemistry and subsequently completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Clinical Chemistry, both at the University of Toronto. Over the past five years, he has served as a clinical biochemist at Vancouver General Hospital and as a Clinical Assistant Professor in UBC’s Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. He is actively involved in clinical research and participates in teaching for residents and medical students. In his current role at VGH, he provides medical oversight for neuroendocrine tumour marker analysis using mass spectrometry, regional point-of-care testing programs, and some areas of routine chemistry including cardiac biomarkers. His professional interests centre on leveraging data analytics and informatics to drive laboratory quality improvement.
overview:
The presentation will go over the relatively common causes of discordant high sensitivity troponin I and troponin T results that may lead to confusion among clinicians and possibly subject patients to overdiagnosis and overtreatment. Approaches and practical lab methods for investigation of such results will be reviewed.
learning objectives:
At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to:
1) Describe the more common causes of interference in high sensitivity troponin assays
2) Describe the available approaches for investigation of potential troponin interferences
3) Devise a practical laboratory pathway to address a question of clinically discordant troponin