{"title":"Perspectives on emerging challenges and training needs for the Laboratory Medicine specialist of the future.","authors":"Giuseppe Lippi, Agostino Ognibene","doi":"10.1515/almed-2025-0146","DOIUrl":"10.1515/almed-2025-0146","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Laboratory Medicine has undergone a radical transformation since its early 20th-century origins, evolving from rudimentary hospital laboratories into a technologically advanced discipline. Laboratory Medicine specialists now play multifaceted roles that extend beyond traditional analytical tasks to include clinical liaison, technological leadership, laboratory management and complex data interpretation within multidisciplinary healthcare teams. They are central to designing patient-centered diagnostic services, integrating automation and digital systems across increasingly networked laboratory infrastructures. Nevertheless, current challenges like enhancing test complexity, workforce shortage, budgetary constraints and integration of emerging digital technologies need continuous professional development and organizational adaptability to maintain quality and efficiency. The Laboratory Medicine specialist of the future will need to combine advanced technical expertise with transversal skills including leadership, communication, informatics and ethical governance. Proficiency in data analytics, network and system integration, and digital health platforms will enable Laboratory Medicine specialists to interpret complex biomedical data and optimize laboratory networks. Equally critical is commitment to sustainability and equity, encompassing green laboratory practices, scalable diagnostics and equitable access to services. Strategic workforce planning, advanced technical expertise, leadership, informatics, network optimization, sustainability-focused practices, educational innovations and structured mentorship programs are essential to cultivate these versatile professionals. This transformation establishes Laboratory Medicine not only as a technical cornerstone, but also as a strategic driver of patient-centered, equitable and sustainable healthcare.</p>","PeriodicalId":72097,"journal":{"name":"Advances in laboratory medicine","volume":"7 1","pages":"16-25"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12994699/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147482513","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Antonio Sierra-Rivera, Clara Ramírez-Serra, Laura Sahuquillo-Frias
{"title":"Pericardial fluid cytology as a diagnostic tool for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma: a case report.","authors":"Antonio Sierra-Rivera, Clara Ramírez-Serra, Laura Sahuquillo-Frias","doi":"10.1515/almed-2025-0107","DOIUrl":"10.1515/almed-2025-0107","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>Primary cardiac lymphoma represents an extremely rare entity of extranodal non-Hodgkin lymphoma.</p><p><strong>Case presentation: </strong>We report the case of a woman who presented with dyspnea, asthenia, chest pain, cough, and odynophagia. Investigations revealed a diffuse large B-cell lymphomas type primary cardiac lymphoma through cytological examination of pericardial fluid. Confirmatory diagnosis was established through cytology of pericardial effusion, supported by imaging techniques. The patient completed all cycles of chemotherapy and is currently in remission.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This case highlights the essential role of accurate cytological evaluation by laboratory professionals, which can facilitate early diagnosis and may obviate the need for more invasive procedures such as endomyocardial biopsy.</p>","PeriodicalId":72097,"journal":{"name":"Advances in laboratory medicine","volume":"7 1","pages":"68-73"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12994684/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147482538","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mireia Pallarés, Jorge Medina, Marc Garreta, Emma Padilla, Teresa Villalba, Josefa Pérez, Antonio Casabella
{"title":"Fungal infection detected from a peripheral blood smear review.","authors":"Mireia Pallarés, Jorge Medina, Marc Garreta, Emma Padilla, Teresa Villalba, Josefa Pérez, Antonio Casabella","doi":"10.1515/almed-2025-0131","DOIUrl":"10.1515/almed-2025-0131","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>Histoplasmosis is a lung and blood disease caused by a dimorphic fungus, <i>Histoplasma capsulatum</i>, which causes non-specific clinical manifestations making differential diagnosis aimed at its detection difficult.</p><p><strong>Case presentation: </strong>We explore the case of a 28-year-old man whose blood test revealed pancytopenia, which led to review of the blood film, which showed yeast-like cytoplasmic inclusions in some of the neutrophils, suggestive of <i>H. capsulatum</i> infection. Given the suspicion, the laboratory expanded tests for the detection of fungal biomarkers such as galactomannan antigen and B-D-glucan, in addition to HIV serology, which were positive.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This case highlights the importance of the morphological review of the blood film in the laboratory, as it provides very valuable and relevant information for the diagnosis of many diseases. As well as the importance of communication between the different departments in the laboratory.</p>","PeriodicalId":72097,"journal":{"name":"Advances in laboratory medicine","volume":"7 1","pages":"74-77"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12994701/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147482391","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ana de Malet Pintos-Fonseca, Laura Riesco-Dávila, Serafín Mirete-Bachiller, Israel Nieto-Gañán
{"title":"Association between HLA alleles and adverse drug reactions. Mechanisms involved.","authors":"Ana de Malet Pintos-Fonseca, Laura Riesco-Dávila, Serafín Mirete-Bachiller, Israel Nieto-Gañán","doi":"10.1515/almed-2025-0118","DOIUrl":"10.1515/almed-2025-0118","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) represent a major public health problem. A significant subset of these reactions, particularly delayed-type hypersensitivity reactions and severe cutaneous adverse reactions (SCARs), show a strong association with specific alleles of the human major histocompatibility complex (HLA). The following review aims to summarize the current evidence on the associations between HLA alleles and ADR, covering both well-established associations and those with emerging evidence. The proposed immunological mechanisms for these adverse reactions are also outlined, including hapten/pro-hapten, pharmacological interaction with immune receptors (p-i) and the altered peptide models.</p><p><strong>Content: </strong>A systematic literature search was conducted in the PubMed database (MEDLINE) through April 2025, independently by the authors. A consensus was then reached, with a total of 56 articles being used in this review.</p><p><strong>Summary: </strong>A division by groups of drugs is established (antiretrovirals, aromatic antiepileptics, allopurinol, antibiotics and other drugs), indicating for each of them the HLA involved, the proposed mechanism, ethnicity in which the association was described and the degree of association. A table is included to facilitate consultation of key information.</p><p><strong>Outlook: </strong>HLA alleles play a critical role in the pathogenesis of numerous ADRs, and further studies are needed to clarify HLA-ADRs associations and the mechanisms involved.</p>","PeriodicalId":72097,"journal":{"name":"Advances in laboratory medicine","volume":"7 1","pages":"1-9"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2025-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12994709/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147482340","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lucas Ramón Díaz-Anadón, Julián Rodríguez, Flor Ángel Ordóñez-Álvarez, Helena Gil-Peña, Óscar David Pons-Belda, Leire Cardo
{"title":"Urine pH and ammonium paediatric reference intervals in first morning spot urine.","authors":"Lucas Ramón Díaz-Anadón, Julián Rodríguez, Flor Ángel Ordóñez-Álvarez, Helena Gil-Peña, Óscar David Pons-Belda, Leire Cardo","doi":"10.1515/almed-2025-0070","DOIUrl":"10.1515/almed-2025-0070","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>Urinary acidification plays a crucial role in acid-base homeostasis, its evaluation being necessary in the differential diagnosis of metabolic acidosis. The practical limitations of the functional tests required to confirm an acidification disorder point out the need for a simple screening method for urinary acidification assessment in spot urine. The best candidates are urine pH and ammonium (NH<sub>4</sub> <sup>+</sup>), but there are few data on their reference values in spot urine in children.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Our study measured urine pH and NH<sub>4</sub> <sup>+</sup>/creatinine ratio in the first morning fasting urine of 135 healthy children aged between 5 and 14 years. pH was measured by dipstick and potentiometry, concluding that only potentiometric measures were appropriated for assessing urinary acidification in acid-base diseases.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Median urine pH was 5.67 (interquartile range 5.44-6.01), ranging from 4.90 to 7.60. Median NH<sub>4</sub> <sup>+</sup>/creatinine ratio was 4,869 μmol/mmol (interquartile range 3,528-5,918). The reference interval for urine pH ranged from 5.01 to 6.88 and the reference interval for NH<sub>4</sub> <sup>+</sup>/creatinine ratio ranged from 1,646 μmol/mmol to 9,799 μmol/mmol.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>These results supply, for the first time, paediatric reference values for both parameters simultaneously, standardizing the sample and method of choice and providing a clinically useful tool for a preliminary evaluation of urinary acidification.</p>","PeriodicalId":72097,"journal":{"name":"Advances in laboratory medicine","volume":"7 1","pages":"64-67"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2025-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12994686/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147482553","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Farmacogenética y medicina de laboratorio: del gen individual a los estudios genéticos integrales.","authors":"Mercè Brunet Serra, María Isidoro García","doi":"10.1515/almed-2025-0109","DOIUrl":"10.1515/almed-2025-0109","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":72097,"journal":{"name":"Advances in laboratory medicine","volume":"6 4","pages":"381-384"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2025-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12744364/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145859470","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The urine examination: a modern technological test with a very ancient history.","authors":"Massimo Daves, Erika Jani, Rossella Panella, Ruggero Buonocore, Stefano Pastori, Vincenzo Roccaforte","doi":"10.1515/almed-2025-0121","DOIUrl":"10.1515/almed-2025-0121","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>For centuries, the only 'semeiological and laboratory' test that the physician had at his disposal to point towards to a diagnosis was the urine test. It was based on the chemical and physical properties evaluation of the sample. During the last decade of the 20th century, the use of flow cytometry opened new perspectives in the diagnostic strategy of urine examination, making it possible to automate a typically manual procedure that was represented by reading the urine sediment under an optical microscope. The combination of fully automated physical chemical and urinary sediment testing has increased the amount of information we can obtain from a simple urine test. Today's fully automated analyzers have an accurate cell count and an excellent particle differentiation which brought a higher diagnostic reliability. Today's uranalysis is the product of many scientists, chemists, physicians, that over decades have developed, increased the accuracy, have tried to understand, and give a meaning to all aspects (physical, chemical, and morphological) that can be found in a simple urine test. Our hope is that the urine test will be increasingly re-evaluated for the enormous diagnostic potential it can offer, also in view of a medicine that is increasingly geared to the individual needs of each patient.</p>","PeriodicalId":72097,"journal":{"name":"Advances in laboratory medicine","volume":"7 1","pages":"10-15"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2025-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12994703/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147482477","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Omer Javed, Neelum Mansoor, Naeem Jabbar, Hamza Khan, Talha Israr, Sidra Maqsood, Saba Jamal, Fatima Meraj
{"title":"Los cambios inmunofenotípicos en tiempo real en la leucemia linfoblástica pediátrica de tipo B tienen implicaciones para la detección de la enfermedad mínima residual.","authors":"Omer Javed, Neelum Mansoor, Naeem Jabbar, Hamza Khan, Talha Israr, Sidra Maqsood, Saba Jamal, Fatima Meraj","doi":"10.1515/almed-2025-0104","DOIUrl":"10.1515/almed-2025-0104","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":72097,"journal":{"name":"Advances in laboratory medicine","volume":"6 3","pages":"365-372"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2025-08-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12446918/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145115024","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"La integración de la prueba de ctDNA en el análisis de <i>EGFR</i> en el carcinoma pulmonar no microcítico: estrategias para el laboratorio clínico.","authors":"Esther Fernández-Galán, Joan Anton Puig-Butillé","doi":"10.1515/almed-2025-0092","DOIUrl":"10.1515/almed-2025-0092","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":72097,"journal":{"name":"Advances in laboratory medicine","volume":"6 3","pages":"245-258"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2025-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12446920/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145114943","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}