Urine Cytology Specimens
January 07, 2021
On behalf of Pathlab Cytology and Microbiology departments, we please ask that any request for urine cytology be sent as a separate urine sample with a separate laboratory form, and not combined with other requests such as Microbiology microscopy, culture, and susceptibilities (M, C, & S), and/or urine mycobacterial culture, etc. on the same specimen. Please note that investigation of microscopic…
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Important Update: COVID Test Request for Travel
December 17, 2020
Over the past few months Pathlab has been testing Covid-19 requests for patients who require testing for either work related purposes, private travel or repatriation. During this time our team has been faced with increasing demands from both patients and requesters. These demands have resulted in increased workload with many processes requiring manual input. timing of when testing and reporting is…
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2020-21 Holiday Season Collection Information
December 17, 2020
ALL Pathlab collection facilities will be closed as follows over the holiday season: Friday 25th, Saturday 26th, Sunday 27th and Monday 28th December 2020 Friday 1st, Saturday 2nd, Sunday 3rd and Monday 4th January 2021 COVID swab collection is not available at any Pathlab site during those dates, however processing of all tests, including COVID will continue, with the results for COVID tests…
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Change to reference intervals for ALT and AST
December 04, 2020
AST and ALT Following an upgrade of the main biochemistry analyser from the Cobas 6000 to Cobas 8100 at Waikato hospital laboratory, a review of reference intervals was undertaken. The new IFCC reference methods for AST and ALT methods correlate well with Pathlab results allowing us to harmonise our reference intervals across the BOP, Lakes and Waikato regions. Plot of Pathlab results against…
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Molecular testing for Enteric Pathogens - Reagent Supply Issues
October 08, 2020
Please note that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we currently have problems in securing reagents for molecular/PCR based testing of enteric pathogens. This is due to the manufacturers of the test reagents diverting resource to the production of SARS-CoV-2 assays. As a result, we will be required to return to culture based diagnosis of enteric bacterial pathogens (Campylobacter, Salmonella, Shigella…
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