ePoster Exhibition

At Labquality Days 2023, the scientific committee awarded two posters with the best ePoster award!

Susanna Sonny with the poster Comparison of a novel surface plasmon resonance – based and conventional ELISA assay for determination of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in serum samples

and

Filip Örneholm with the poster Integrating Health Economic Analysis into External Quality Assessment of Laboratory Tests: Evaluating Costs and Consequences of Bias in Lipid Tests in the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease in Swedish Diabetes Patients

Pavel Zhelev‘s poster Novel Herpes Simplex Virus, Varicella Zoster Virus, and Treponema pallidum Quality Control Material For Use With Genital Ulcer Disease NAAT was voted as the audience favourite.

Congratulations to all winners!

Advantages of Using Direct Integration for EQA Result Reporting

Kristel Virtanen, Heidi Berghäll, Jonna Pelanti
Labquality, Helsinki, Finland

External quality assessment (EQA) is a service for laboratories to get feedback on their performance and quality and to compare their results to other laboratories analyzing identical samples. EQA samples should be analyzed according to the same process as patient samples. Most laboratories receive patient sample analysis requests electronically into their laboratory information system (LIS) and patient results are reported electronically. However, their external quality assessment results are usually processed differently; analysis requests are not received electronically to the LIS and results are reported manually by writing the results usually to an electronic result form of the EQA provider. This additional and out-of-the-process step may cause delays, uncertainty or even errors in the EQA result reporting. Integrating laboratory information systems to EQA portals is a potential way to decrease the manual workload for laboratories and make the result reporting faster and more consistent. Labquality has integrated several LIS systems into its electronic EQA portal LabScala using standard HL7 messaging.

An integrated solution using bench spreadsheets to monitor Quality control indicators and performance in medicine laboratories

Armandina Miranda¹, Sandra Costa¹, Alcina Costa¹, Marta Alvim¹, Helena Correia², Aline Carletto³, Ana Faria²
¹ Instituto Nacional de Saúde Dr. Ricardo Jorge – Departamento de Promoção da Saúde e Prevenção de Doenças Não Transmissíveis, Portugal;
² Instituto Nacional de Saúde Dr. Ricardo Jorge – Departamento de Epidemiologia – Unidade de Avaliação Externa da Qualidade, Portugal;
³ Faculdade de Farmácia de Lisboa, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal

Laboratory Quality Control (LQC) in medical laboratories is a tool to monitor the procedures of pre-analytical, intra-analytical and post-analytical phases. The data statistic analysis allows the quantification of the random errors using the variation coefficients (CV%) obtained by Internal Quality Control (IQC) and the systematic errors (bias%), from the results of External Quality Control (EQC). These results are combined to calculate the Total Error (TE) and Measurement of Uncertainty (MU), which allows the knowledge of the precision and accuracy and follow the performance of the laboratory by comparison with the quality specifications.

An interactive, web-based and easy-to-use dashboard for EQA results – A modern way of presenting and visualizing data

Christina Andersson, David Afzelius
Equalis AB, Uppsala, Sweden

External quality assessment (EQA) provides evaluation to verify accuracy of laboratory medicine results. Equalis is a Swedish provider of over 120 EQA schemes within a variety of clinical laboratory investigations. Today, we distribute EQA results in extensive PDF reports to our participants. Some participants are responsible for several laboratories and/or instruments, especially in the point-of-care testing (POCT) field, and it is time-consuming to go through each PDF report to evaluate the EQA results properly.

An overview of the effectiveness of the quality assurance programme for HIV point-of-care testing in South Africa

Nozuko P. Blasich, Mduduzi Buthelezi, Dumisani Shabangu, Mahlatse Maleka, Patience Dabula
Academic Affairs, Research and Quality Assurance, National Health Laboratory Service, Johannesburg, South Africa

In 2016, the South African National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) implemented a quality management system for HIV point-of-care (POC) testing. The NHLS Quality Assurance Department (QAD) provides continuing support to Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) rapid testing facilities ensuring that they have sufficient, high-quality supplies and are evaluated to increase accuracy of HIV POC results. QAD is responsible for preparing HIV quality assurance panels consisting of HIV-positive and HIV-negative serum samples to be supplied to the facilities twice a year for proficiency testing (PT), as well as upon request for Independent Quality Control (IQC) and Training panels for training purposes.

Comparison of a novel surface plasmon resonance-based and conventional ELISA assay for determination of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in serum samples

Susanna Sonny¹, Martin Albers², Elisa Tikkanen¹, Pekka Kilpeläinen¹, Vesa Virtanen¹
¹Unit of Measurement Technology, Kajaani University Consortium, University of Oulu, Kajaani, Finland
² BioNavis Ltd, Tampere, Finland

In this study, Covid-19 patients’ SARS-CoV-2 antibodies were tested with ELISA IgG -kit and with a method based on MP-SPR technology. Multi-Parametric Surface Plasmon Resonance (MP-SPR) technique enables the detection of SARS-CoV-2 specific antibodies in human serum samples and provides quantitative data on the patient’s serological signature of the Covid-19 related immune response. The avidin sensor was functionalized with biotinylated proteins: spike S1, nucleocapsid (NC) and spike receptor binding domain (RBD) along with negative control HSA protein.

EQA for FIT Point-of-Care Tests – Should Preanalytics Be Included?

Jonna Pelanti, Satu Eklund, Kristel Virtanen, Heidi Berghäll
Labquality, Helsinki, Finland

Colorectal cancer is a common cancer and cause of death worldwide. Screening is often done with fecal immunochemical tests (FIT) detecting human hemoglobin and there are several tests on the market. The results are used for diagnosing patients and they should be correct and monitored with quality assessment procedures. Labquality has organized a quantitative fecal blood program since 2020. We present results from 8 EQA rounds including either liquid samples monitoring the analytical phase or lyophilized fecal samples monitoring both the preanalytical and analytical phase.

Evaluation of Equalis’ national pilot for EQA of colposcopy examinations

Josefin Ågren¹, Karin Dahlin Robertsson¹, Hanna Milerad Sahlgren², Kristina Elfgren³,⁴, Henrik Edvardsson⁴
¹ Equalis, Uppsala, Sweden
² Regional Cancer Center Uppsala, Sweden
³ Regional Cancer Center Stockholm Gotland, Sweden
⁴ Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden

External quality assurance is important to ensure good quality, and accurate and comparable examination results. Equalis is a provider of over 100 quality assurance schemes in laboratory medicine, diagnostic imaging, and point-of-care testing. In the spring of 2022, a national quality assurance project in colposcopy was carried out for the first time, where gynaecologists in Sweden were invited to participate in a pilot round. Colposcopy is a microscopic examination of the uterine cervix, used in evaluating cervical lesions.

Further the usage of EQA-data of F-Calprotectin into the national system for knowledge-driven management regarding person-centred and integrated care process for inflammatory bowel disease in Sweden

Hanna Börjeson¹, Carolina Kristoffersson¹, Mathias Karlsson¹, Gunnar Nordin¹, Lars-Olof Hansson²
¹ Equalis, Uppsala, Sweden
² Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

In Sweden a national system for knowledge-driven management within the healthcare is used. In the spring of 2022, a person-centred and integrated care process for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in adults was published, in which measurement results from F-Calprotectin were included as one of the inclusion/exclusion criteria with a common (independent of method) threshold value ≥150 mg/kg. Equalis EQA-scheme of F-Calprotectin shows large differences both within and between the different output groups, therefore Equalis opposed to a common national criterion.

Guidelines for the frequency of participation to external quality assessment for analyses focused on rare diseases in the Belgian Medical Centers of Human Genetics

Joséphine Lantoine¹, Anne Brysse², Vinciane Dideberg², Kathleen BM Claes³, Sofie Symoens³, Wim Coucke¹, Valérie Benoit⁴, Sonia Rombout⁴, Martine De Rycke⁵, Sara Seneca⁵, Lut Van Laer⁶, Wim Wuyts⁶, Anniek Corveleyn⁷, Kris Van Den Bogaert⁷, Catherine Rydlewski⁸, Françoise Wilkin⁸, Marie Ravoet⁹, Elodie Fastré⁹, Arnaud Capron¹, Nathalie Monique Vandevelde¹
¹ Department of Quality of Laboratories, Sciensano, rue Juliette Wystman 14, 1050 Ixelles, Belgium
² Center of Human Genetics, CHU of Liege, University of Liege, Domaine Universitaire du Sart Tilman, (Bâtiment B 23, +3), B-4000 Liege, Belgium
³ Center for Medical Genetics, Ghent University Hospital, Corneel Heymanslaan 10, 9000 Gent, Belgium
⁴ Center of Human Genetics, Institut de Pathologie et de Génétique, Avenue Georges Lemaître 25, 6041 Gosselies, Belgium
⁵ Center for Medical Genetics, Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Laarbeeklaan 101, 1090 Brussels, Belgium
⁶ Center of Medical Genetics, Antwerp University Hospital and University of Antwerp, Prins Boudewijnlaan 43 Bus 6, 2650 Edegem, Belgium
⁷ Center for Human Genetics, University Hospitals Leuven, Herestraat 49, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
⁸ Center of Human Genetics, Hôpital Erasme, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Route de Lennik 808, 1070 Anderlecht, Belgium
⁹ Center for Human Genetics, Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc, Université catholique de Louvain, Avenue Hippocrate 10, 1200 Brussels, Belgium

In order to support the Belgian Medical Centers of Human Genetics (BMCHGs) in the development of a Quality Management System and the participation to External Quality Assessment programs (EQAs), the Belgian National Institute for Health and Disability Insurance in collaboration with the Belgian Institute for health, Sciensano has developed a funding for the participation of the BMCHGs to EQAs focused on genetic tests performed in the context of hereditary rare diseases and hereditary rare cancers.

Novel Herpes Simplex Virus, Varicella Zoster Virus, and Treponema pallidum Quality Control Material For Use With Genital Ulcer Disease NAAT

Sydney Rivers, Pavel Zhelev, Amer Alagic, Mark Luscher, Ken Hughes, Rasha Mikhael, Teklu Gerbaba, Jaspal Auluck, Shane Niyamuddin, & Phil Casselli
Microbix, Mississauga, CANADA

The emergence of genital ulcer disease is becoming a global health concern, with over 20 million new cases diagnosed each year1. Molecular assays that detect Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) 1&2, Varicella Zoster Virus (VZV), and Treponema pallidum (TP) – the most common etiological agents of genital ulcer disease—are evolving in clinic; however, there is limited quality control material available to support the use of these tests. While native pathogens are available for HSV 1&2, VZV, and TP, the samples are not formulated to mimic patient specimen formats, as genital lesion detection is usually performed with swab-based collection methods. Additionally, the few TP quality control materials on the market are comprised of encapsulated synthetic DNA, and thus are not sufficient to control whole workflows, such as sample extraction. To our knowledge, we are the first to develop a multiplex whole-workflow control for genital lesion panels. The sample is formulated on a Copan FLOQSwab®, not only to mimic patient specimen formats, but also to ensure sample compatibility with all assay workflows and elution buffers.

R programming for data analysis and report generation in External Quality Assessment (EQA) programs

Prasong Khaenam
Faculty of Medical Technology, Mahidol, University, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand

Data analysis and report generation is the laborious, time consuming and complicated task for proficiency testing providers (PTP). The turnaround time and accuracy of performance evaluation and report generation are mainly limited by the knowledge, skill, experience of PTP, as well as the tool used for performing these tasks.

Semen Examination Requires Global Quality Rise

Lars Björndahl
ANOVA Karolinska University Hospital and Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

The examination of human semen raises many challenges. The human ejaculate has few similarities to other human body fluids: it is formed at ejaculation by sequential addition of different contents resulting in a nonhomogenous distribution of “material”. For a long time focus has been on the prediction of IVF outcome, although the assessment of the ejaculate has important information about functions of the male genital organs. Reliable laboratory techniques have successively been developed, not the least by laboratory recommendations from the WHO. Recently an international standard was published to support accreditation of laboratories performing semen examinations. The implementation of reliable techniques has, however, been very slow, and true compliance with reliable laboratory techniques and transparency in scientific publications is almost non-existent. Recently, an international appeal was addressed to the scientific and clinical society and to journals publishing results from human semen examinations to improve standards.

SKUP evaluation protocol for troponin

Elisabet Eriksson Boija¹, Christine Morken², Dår Kristian Kur³, Joakim Hekland²
¹Equalis, Uppsala, Sweden. Presenter.
²Noklus, Bergen, Norway
³DEKS, Glostrup, Denmark

SKUP, Scandinavian evaluation of laboratory equipment for primary health care, has performed independent evaluations of laboratory equipment for the last 25 years. Many different measuring systems, measuring a wide variety of components, has been evaluated so far. Now SKUP has received requests to perform evaluations of point of care (POC) systems that measure cardiac troponin (cTn), which is a new field for us.

Troponin I and CA 15-3 fingerprints on immunoassay platforms and the consequence for harmonization/standardization

Piotr Chylenski¹, Johannes Bauer, Leonila F. Hope, Jane A. Awuh
¹ SERO AS, Department for Research and Development, Billingstad, Norway

Harmonization and standardization of laboratory measurement techniques have a common goal: to obtain equivalence of measurement results to correctly interpret test results and give the correct medical advice independent of time and place of analysis. However, the majority of measurement techniques are still not harmonized or standardized. Harmonization/standardization is particularly challenging in the field of immunoassay techniques since internationally recognized reference materials and measurement procedures are often missing. A major challenge is that the measurand itself often is only poorly defined.

At Labquality Days 2023, the scientific committee awarded two posters with the best ePoster award!

Congratulations to all winners!