Know, in real time, the response of the immune system to the anti-covid vaccine. Just a year ago it was unthinkable, while today it is reality thanks to new tests that accurately photograph the complete immune response, both to disease and to vaccination. This now applies to Sars-Cov-2 infection, but it can be extended to other viral and bacterial infections in the future. What good is it? “In cancer patients, for example, or in those with autoimmune diseases, this verification is very important”, says Tommaso Trenti, President of the Italian Society of Clinical Biochemistry and Clinical Molecular Biology – Laboratory Medicine (SIBioC) and Director of the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathological Anatomy of the University Hospital of Modena: “Our work allows us to indicate to clinicians what the patient’s real immune status is, to predict how he will react to chemotherapy, use of cortisone or immunosuppressive drugs”.
Covid, Europe says yes to antibody combo for treatment
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What the toxicological analyzes reveal
These tests are the focus of the 54th SIBioC national congress entitled “Bridge between present and future in healthcare”, underway in Genoa. But not only. The toxicological evaluation conducted thanks to laboratory medicine, for example, showed a reduction in the consumption of traditional drugs such as cocaine and opium during the lockdown and an increase in the use of synthetic drugs, especially with narcotic, analgesic and tranquilizing action, such as the new opiates and benzodiazepines. New very dangerous drugs – underlines SiBioC – which since 2015 have led to an opioid epidemic in the United States, landed in Europe since 2019 and constantly growing. “The Covid 19 epidemic was a frontier for all medical branches, but for us it was a real watershed – adds Laura Sciacovelli, Past President of SIBioC and Biologist Manager at the Padua Hospital – The strategic role of examinations laboratory has emerged with evidence and sees our scientific society at the forefront in protecting the patient’s health, transferring diagnostic innovation to clinical practice “.
Covid, the mortality of the elderly is still too high
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Laboratory medicine at the service of personalized medicine
The introduction of increasingly advanced tests on the one hand, therefore, and genomics on the other. “Genomics provides us with the tools of precision medicine, a revolutionary approach in laboratory medicine and diagnostics”, underlines the SIBioC President-elect Marcello Ciaccio, Ordinary of Biomedicine, Neuroscience and Advanced Diagnostics at the University of Palermo: “In the magisterial reading of this year’s Congress, Professor Alessio Fasano of Harvard University describes how laboratory medicine will allow us to understand the individual in his uniqueness, with a clear advantage both for the patient, who will be treated with the most suitable drugs his situation, than for the national health system, which will achieve savings in the choice of high-cost treatments. Laboratory Medicine, in fact, today is able to identify the biomarkers that allow the development of targeted therapies “.
Lea, Sibioc’s alarm: “Cuts up to 3 million euros for laboratory services”
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SIBioC is increasingly committed also on the institutional side, stimulating a continuous dialogue between the national health system, the Regions and the health companies: “We try to give our contribution to select effective exams and eliminate those deemed useless – concludes Tommaso Trenti – to find optimal prevention and clinical diagnostic therapeutic paths thanks to innovation. It is a unique moment for the Company to rebuild and strengthen the value and perception of the scientific and professional community that has always characterized us “.
Medicine, a site to understand reports, exams and diagnoses
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