Editorial
Today we are pleased to send you our digital Newsletter which aims to provide you with some important ECAT information and relevant articles in the fields of quality control and/ or laboratory diagnosis in thrombosis & haemostasis.
Enjoy reading.
Petra van Velp
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ECAT Symposium
Programme highlights:
| Andreas Greinacher |
HIT and VITT: is there a bridge |
| Giuseppe Lippi |
COVID19 and the role of the haemostasis laboratory |
| Frank Leebeek |
Hemophilia and gene therapy |
| Jeroen Eikenboom |
Low Von Willebrand Factor and diagnostic treshold |
| Rita Selby |
D-Dimer: quality of laboratory testing and its implications in clinical practice |
| Katrien Devreese |
Antiphospholipid Antibody Assay results and clinical implications |
| Christa Cobbaert |
What are the implications of the new IVD regulation for the daily laboratory practice? |
| Jonathan Douxfils |
Method validation for haemostasis assays |
| Piet Meijer |
Guidance for FVIII/FIX Inhibitor Testing |
| Martine van Essen |
Biological Variation in haemostasis |
Special guest: Diederik Gommers
Diederik Gommers is the head of the intensive care unit of the Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. During the first two years of the COVID pandemic he was also member of the Dutch Outbreak Management Team who advices the Dutch government.
In his lecture he gives us a look behind the scenes of the intensive care unit during the COVID pandemic.
At each ECAT symposium the founder of the ECAT Foundation, Frits Haverkate, is honoured by the Haverkate Lecture. This lecture is given by a person who has significantly contributed to the laboratory diagnosis in the field of Thrombosis and Haemostasis or the quality of laboratory testing in general.
This year the Haverkate Lecture will be presented by dr. Gary Moore (London, UK).
The title of the lecture is: “When Haemostasis Assays Mislead”
For an overview of the full programme:
https://www.ecat.nl/meeting-2/programme-symposium
For further details about the ECAT symposium and registration see:
https://www.ecat.nl/meeting-2/symposium
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ECAT Vision and Mission
Recently the ECAT Foundation has formulated their Vision and Mission statement.
In our vision we describe were ECAT stands for and our mission we describe what we want to achieve.
Vision
Mission
The ECAT Foundation is a non-profit organisation providing an international External Quality Assessment Programme (EQAP) for laboratories working in the field of haemostasis and thrombosis. The aim of the ECAT Foundation is to assess the quality of clinical laboratory testing and thereby supports continuous improvement of the diagnosis and treatment of patients.
The ECAT Foundation strives to be an internationally leading external quality assessment organisation in the field of specialised laboratory testing for thrombosis and haemostasis.
The external quality assessment programme of the ECAT Foundation distinguishes itself by offering a wide range of parameters using human and, if possible, patient-based plasma samples, user-friendly web-based result submission forms, and clear and informative reports with state-of-the-art statistical evaluations. The ECAT Foundation offers these services for competitive prices.
The ECAT Foundation closely monitors diagnostic developments in the field of thrombosis and haemostasis with the purpose to further develop its external quality assessment programme.
The ECAT Foundation is a transparent organisation and as such aims for a high customer satisfaction and is open to suggestions from participants. Confidentiality of participant details is respected.
To support its core activity, external quality assessment in the field of thrombosis and haemostasis, the ECAT Foundation develops scientific projects, publishes scientific publications and organises educational activities (e.g. participant meetings, webinars, courses).
The ECAT Foundation pursues an open relationship with all stakeholders (participants, distributors, diagnostic and pharmaceutical companies and producers of plasma samples for external quality assessment purposes). The ECAT Foundation is also active in a number of international societies and organisations (e.g. SSC/ISTH, ICSH, EQALM and EQATH).
The external quality assessment programme of the ECAT Foundation is accredited according to the ISO 17043:2010 standard.
This vision and mission statement is also available at our website: https://www.ecat.nl/information/mission-and-vision
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Location survey reports on webserver
Recently we have added the survey reports to the survey list which appears at the moment you login on our webserver (see example below).
At the moment a survey report is available a PDF-icon appears on the righthand side of the respective survey. Therefore, it is now easy to see in this table whether a survey report is available.
The survey report remains also accessible at the location when you select a certain survey (see example below).
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Maximum period survey results and reports are available at the webserver
Because of the increasing number of participants and different types of surveys we have to limit the period survey results and survey reports can be accessed on the webserver. The maximum period is 2 years. Make sure you download your reports from the server in time.
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Reporting problems during a survey in a timely manner
If a problem occurs during a survey period (e.g. no samples received, broken vial, problems with result submission), please inform us in a timely manner. If problems are reported shortly before the survey is closed we are not always able anymore to solve the problem in time.
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New publication
We are proud to announce our recent joined publication with the UKNEQAS and the SSC on the results of a global survey on Anti-PF4 testing for vaccine-induced immune thrombocytopenia and thrombosis (VITT) in the Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis. You can access this publication with the following link:
http://doi.org/10.1111/jth.15766
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ECAT posters at the ISTH 2022 in London
During the congress of the International Society of Thrombosis and Haemostasis in London from 9 – 13 July ECAT will present several posters.
• How do laboratories perform von Willebrand disease (VWD) diagnostics?
(presented on Monday 11 July 2022 from 6.30 – 7.30 pm)
• Results of samples spiked with chimeric monoclonal anti-PF4 antibody 1C12 in ECAT external quality assessment surveys for heparin-induced thrombocytopenia diagnosis.
(presented on Tuesday 12 July 2022 from 6.30 – 7.30 pm)
See also the contribution on HIT in this newsletter
• Vaccine Induced Immune Thrombocytopenia and Thrombosis (VITT) external quality assessment (EQA) scheme results and interpretations from a joint UKNEQAS BC, SSC and ECAT VITT Survey May 2021.
(presented on Tuesday 12 July 2022 from 6.30 – 7.30 pm)
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ECAT Information:
Results of samples spiked with chimeric monoclonal anti-PF4 antibody 1C12 in ECAT external quality assessment surveys for heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) diagnosis
For the laboratory diagnosis of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT), the majority of laboratories are using an immunological assay to detect the presence of anti-PF4/heparin antibodies. Recently, chimeric monoclonal platelet factor 4 (PF4)-specific antibodies with a human IgG1 Fc fragment have been developed, and they mimic immunological features of human HIT antibodies. Since 2020 the ECAT uses these monoclonals antibodies in their HIT external quality assessment (EQA) surveys. Here we report on the response of the 1C12 monoclonal antibody in a wide range of frequently used HIT immunological tests investigated in the HIT EQA surveys. Read more
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Literature Highlights:
Recent publications
Below we list some interesting recent publications in the field of thrombosis and haemostasis, and laboratory diagnostics. Because of the enormous number of publications we have limited our reporting to just a small list of interesting publications. It is not our intention to provide you with a complete overview. We hope this list supports you in your awareness of interesting publications.
Laboratory testing
- Arslan, F.D., B.I. Basok, M. Terzioglu, T.K. Altan, Y. Karaca, S.S. Senger, et al., Evaluation of D-dimer levels measured by different analytical methods in COVID-19 patients. Blood Coagul Fibrinolysis, 2022; 33: 209-215.
- Morimont, L., C. Leclercq, M. Didembourg, E. De Gottal, A. Carlo, U. Gaspard, et al., Analytical performance of the endogenous thrombin potential-based activated protein C resistance assay on the automated ST Genesia system. Res Pract Thromb Haemost, 2022; 6: e12684.
- Donners, A., L. Gerencser, K.C.M. van der Elst, T.C.G. Egberts, M.P.M. de Maat, A. Huisman, et al., Quantification of emicizumab by mass spectrometry in plasma of people with hemophilia A: A method validation study. Res Pract Thromb Haemost, 2022; 6: e12725.
- Mithoowani, S., K.A. Moffat, A. Gupta, S.A. Carlino and M.A. Crowther, Low molecular weight heparin anti-Xa assays can identify patients with clinically important apixaban and rivaroxaban drug levels. Thromb Res, 2022; 215: 1-4.
- Guy, S., S. Kitchen, B. Hopkins, Z. Chunara, A. Stephenson-Brown and J.J. van Veen, Laboratory methods for monitoring argatroban in heparin-induced thrombocytopenia. Int J Lab Hematol, 2022; 44: 399-406.
Quality
- Lalongo, C., M. Sapio, L.E. Antetomaso and A. Angeloni, The importance of regulation (EU) 2017/746 for quality control in medical laboratories. Biochem Med (Zagreb), 2022; 32: 010301.
- Loh, T.P., S. Sandberg and A.R. Horvath, Lot-to-lot reagent verification: challenges and possible solutions. Clin Chem Lab Med, 2022; 60: 675-680.
- van Schrojenstein Lantman, M., H.C. Cubukcu, G. Boursier, M. Panteghini, F.A. Bernabeu-Andreu, N. Milinkovic, et al., An approach for determining allowable between reagent lot variation. Clin Chem Lab Med, 2022; 60: 681-688.
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Upcoming Events
XXX ISTH and 68th SSC
09-13 July 2022, London, UK
website
ISLH 2022
08-10 September 2022, Bologna, Italy
website
ECAT Symposium 2022
15-16 September 2022, Leiden, The Netherlands,
website
13th European Lupus meeting
05-08 October 2022, Stockholm, Sweden,
website
For more events, please have a look into our Calendar.
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