Specialised Clinical Chemistry Department make investment into ‘cutting edge’ instruments
The Specialised Clinical Chemistry Department at Northern General Hospital has recently invested in two new pieces of vital equipment which will cut down wait times for test results for patients with endocrine conditions and those who have had transplants.
The Thermo Scientific™ TSQ Quantis™ Plus Mass Spectrometers are instruments that identify and measure substances within blood or urine samples.
The instruments- which have replaced older equipment- are currently most used in monitoring Immunosuppressants for the management of heart, liver, and kidney transplant patients, as well as analysing steroids for diagnosing and monitoring patients with Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia.
But the team now hope to expand the capabilities to develop further projects such as measuring levels of salivary cortisol and cortisone (types of steroid hormones) and measuring levels of Aldosterone and Renin (hormones produced by the kidneys and adrenal glands).
Laboratory Manager Azuma Kalu said: “This is a significant investment for our team, allowing us to innovate our services to the highest standard. Previously certain types of samples have had to be sent to other labs to be analysed, but now we can analyse them here, significantly cutting down the process and proving a more streamlined service for patients.
“This investment will enable us to provide the best care for patients, both at STH and throughout the region.”
Consultant Clinical Scientist Dr Edmund Rab said: “The testing that we do is quite specialist; we analyse things that are really difficult to analyse.
“Having cutting edge instruments allows us to provide tests that aren’t analysed in other places and provide high quality results, enabling us to offer service users an incredibly high standard of testing and a high level of expertise.”
Go back
