August 2024
Discoveries, trends, and discussions in diagnostics
Welcome to the August issue of Diagnostics Dialogue, where you can get up-to-speed on the most important discoveries, trends, and discussions in diagnostics. Continue reading to learn more about:
1) International Overdose Awareness Day
2) Lipoprotein (a) is catching headlines for helping to assess risk for cardiovascular disease
4) Expansive autoimmune testing and reliable insights to help end the diagnosis waiting game
5) Reflex testing: Additional allergy insights with only 1 blood draw
6) Quanum® Lab Services Manager—a digital experience that makes it easier to work with us
|
International Overdose Awareness Day |
|
|
International Overdose Awareness Day |
|
|
International Overdose Awareness Day |
International Overdose Awareness Day |
Together, we can help protect patients who may be at risk
The drug-related overdose epidemic is deadlier than ever with drug overdose deaths topping 107K in 2022.1 August 31 is International Overdose Awareness Day, and we strongly support the global effort to raise awareness of overdoses and protect those at risk.
Clinical drug monitoring is a critical tool to help combat the evolving drug misuse epidemic, and we are at the forefront with an extensive test menu, state-of-the-art technologies, fast turnaround time, easy-to-interpret results, and dozens of toxicology and other clinical specialists available to help you.
Monitoring patients for medication adherence can help
|
Identify prescribed and nonprescribed substances |
|
Prevent harmful drug interactions |
|
Assist in the early detection and prevention of substance use disorder |
|
Better outcomes |
Better outcomes |
Lipoprotein (a) is catching headlines for helping to assess risk for cardiovascular disease
Lipoprotein (a), or Lp(a), levels are primarily genetically predetermined and are elevated in 20%-30% of the population.2-4 Elevated Lp(a) levels are associated with a:
Together with inflammation and metabolic risk markers, assessing lipid biomarkers, including Lp(a), is integral to improving cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk stratification.
We offer a broad portfolio of CVD tests, including Cardio IQ® Lipoprotein (a) to help stratify cardiometabolic risk.
Blood-based risk assessment offerings can help enhance the Alzheimer’s disease and dementia care pathway
Diagnosis and care for patients with cognitive impairment is rapidly evolving, making assessing risk for Alzheimer’s disease (AD), as well as other dementias, key to timely intervention. Blood-based biomarker testing may assist you in earlier diagnosis, ongoing risk assessment, prognosis, and monitoring.7
Our Quest AD-Detect® blood-based portfolio offers testing for beta-amyloid 42/40 ratio (Aβ42/40), phosphorylated tau181 (p-tau181), and phosphorylated tau217 (p-tau217). These tests provide actionable insights to aid in identifying patients in the earliest stages of the disease, when interventions are most likely to be effective.7,8
|
Better experiences |
Better experiences |
Expansive autoimmune testing and reliable insights to help end the diagnosis waiting game
On average, patients with autoimmune disease see 4 different doctors over a 4-year period before an accurate diagnosis is made.9 This increases the importance of cutting-edge rheumatology testing that empowers you to identify and diagnose autoimmune disorders earlier, so you can help patients start therapies sooner.
We offer a comprehensive, specialized rheumatology test portfolio—more than 150 specialty tests/panels—to screen for the 8 most common autoimmune diseases and 20+ analytes with 1 blood draw.
Reflex testing: Additional allergy insights with only 1 blood draw
One in 20 children in the US has a food allergy,10 always a concern as back-to-school preparations begin. Allergy testing is an important tool to help patients know which exposures to avoid and which exposures are safe.
- Whole allergen testing determines whether there is sensitization to an allergen
- Component testing provides protein-level detail of whole allergen sensitization to help understand symptom risk
Reflex testing can help establish medical necessity for component testing by requiring only 1 blood draw and automatically performing available component tests when the whole allergen is positive.
Choosing a test like ImmunoCAP™ can help simplify your approach to allergy care since it tests for the most common allergens while automatically reflexing to available component testing.
|
Removing traditional barriers to testing |
|
|
Removing traditional barriers to testing |
Removing traditional barriers to testing |
Quanum® Lab Services Manager—a digital experience that makes it easier to work with us
We know lab testing is just part of the value you deliver to patients. It’s the same at Quest, where we go beyond testing and make it easier to get all your lab-related needs met with 1-stop convenience. Quanum® Lab Services Manager offers you a simple way to order lab tests online, access graphed results in real time, order supplies, schedule specimen pickup, and more. Plus, its companion app—Quest Lab Alert for Physicians—enables you to receive real-time notifications of patients’ Priority and STAT lab results 24/7 on a mobile device.
With 2,000+ Patient Service Centers and broad in-network health plan coverage that makes testing accessible and affordable for your patients, Quanum is the time-saving portal that can help you easily manage lab-related tasks to optimize patient care.
Achieving the Quadruple Aim in your practice
Our purpose is to support you and your patients with leading-edge services, patient-centered care, and innovative testing that can help provide clarity.
About Diagnostics Dialogue
In our conversations with providers across the country, we hear that you are facing many different constraints that make delivering care challenging. We’re here to help you navigate the uncertainty and deliver better health. With a broad test menu spanning 3,500+ tests and consultations from our medical staff of over 700 MDs and PhDs, we empower healthcare providers to create healthier communities, one patient at a time.
Read past issues of Diagnostics Dialogue and learn what we’re doing every day to improve outcomes and accessibility to care for patients.
References
- American Medical Association. Overdose epidemic report 2023. 2023. Accessed June 12, 2024. https://www.ama-assn.org/system/files/ama-overdose-epidemic-report.pdf
- Tsimikas S, Fazio S, Ferdinand KC, et al. NHLBI Working Group recommendations to reduce lipoprotein(a)-mediated risk of cardiovascular disease and aortic stenosis. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2018;71(2):177-192. doi:10.1016/j.jacc.2017.11.014
- Schmidt K, Noureen A, Kronenberg F, Utermann G. Structure, function, and genetics of lipoprotein (a). J Lipid Res. 2016;57(8):1339-1359. doi:10.1194/jlr.R067314
- Mack S, Coassin S, Rueedi R, et al. A genome-wide association meta-analysis on lipoprotein(a) concentrations adjusted for apolipoprotein(a) isoforms. J Lipid Res. 2017;58(9):1834-1844. doi:10.1194/jlr.M076232
- Kamstrup PR, Tybjaerg-Hansen A, Steffensen R, Nordestgaard BG. Genetically elevated lipoprotein(a) and increased risk of myocardial infarction. JAMA. 2009;301(22):2331–2339. doi:10.1001/jama.2009.801
- Langsted A, Nordestgaard BG, Kamstrup PR. Elevated lipoprotein(a) and risk of ischemic stroke. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2019;74(1):54-66. doi:10.1016/j.jacc.2019.03.524
- Hampel H, Hu Y, Cummings J, et al. Blood-based biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease: Current state and future use in a transformed global healthcare landscape. Neuron. 2023;111(18):2781-2799. doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2023.05.017
- Janelidze S, Palmqvist S, Leuzy A, et al. Detecting amyloid positivity in early Alzheimer’s disease using combinations of plasma Aβ42/Aβ40 and p-tau. Alzheimers Dement. 2022;18(2):283-293.doi:10.1002/alz.123957
- Autoimmune Association. Tips for getting a diagnosis of an autoimmune disease. Accessed May 2, 2024. https://autoimmune.org/resource-center/diagnosis-tips/
- CDC. Diagnosed allergic conditions in children aged 0–17 years: US, 2021. January 2023. Accessed June 18, 2024. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db459.htm
Image content features models and is intended for illustrative purposes only.