Endogenous depression; total triiodothyronine [T3] levels in patients with first episode

The aim of this study to determine the levels of Total triiodothyronine [T3] in patients with first episode of Endogenous depression [prior to medical treatment] and in matched controls. Punjab Institute of Mental Health. Between Jan. and Dec.2011. 100 newly diagnosed depressive patients in the age range of 18-65 years were included in the study. 60 healthy controls were taken from dermatological clinic. Total triiodothyronine [T3] was estimated using enzyme - immune assay. The results obtained were analyzed using Statistical package of social sciences, Version 7.0 [SPSS 7.0]. No significant difference in levels of Total triiodothyronine [T3] was found in depressive patients and control. Lower levels of T3 in depressive patients could lead to subclinical hypothyroidism and refractiveness. Therefore, thyroid profile in refractive patients is suggested

Identification of the types of pre-analytical errors in the clinical chemistry laboratory from jan-2012 to dec-2012 at Jinnah hospital, pathology department

Objective: To evaluate the leading causes of pre-analytical errors in a clinical chemistry laboratory

Methods: A retrospective analysis of the results obtained from the clinical chemistry laboratory for errors in the pre-analytical phase has been carried out to summarize data regarding the frequency of the main factors affecting the pre-analytical quality of results. Laboratory personnel were asked to register rejections, and causes for rejection of ward as well as out-patient samples collected in the laboratory

Results: Of the 1,54,554 tubes received during the data collection period, 2505 samples were found unsuitable for further processing. This accounted for 1.52% of all samples collected in the laboratory. Rejections arose as a result of the following reasons: 0.48% were rejected due to hemolysis; 0.92% were specimens without proper requisition slips; and 0.14% had insufficient sample quantity

Conclusion: Of all the samples received in the lab, the overall percentage of rejection is 1.62%

Determination of thyroglobulin in patients with thyroid carcinoma treated surgically

Thirty patients who had undergone thyroidectomy for thyroid carcinoma were included in this study. These patients were of different age groups with marked female preponderance. Papillary carcinoma was the commonest type among these patients. Blood samples were collected in two phases. Phase I [7 days after surgery] and phase II [3 months after surgery]. Serum thyroglobulin [TG] was determined and was found to be of low levels in phase II as compared to phase 1 [P< 0.001]. the low serum Tg levels following thyroidectomy were indicative of remission or disease free state. However, in phase II elevated serum Tg level was found in one patient in whom recurrence was detected by fine needle aspiration cytology. Hence, estimation of serum Tg levels seems to provide a useful, non-invasive procedure to detect recurrence or metastasis in patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma who have undergone thyroidectomy