PATHOLOGY & LABORATORY MEDICINE It was another productive and busy year for the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. There was a 21 percent increase in testing volume from 2019 to 2020. The most significant changes were seen in Microbiology as well as Molecular Pathology and Chemistry. The Covid pandemic is the main reason for the increases in Microbiology and Chemistry whereas the Molecular Pathology increase can be attributed to newly developed tests. In Anatomic Pathology, we continue to recruit for pathologists with subspecialty training. In 2020, the focus was to interview in breast and gastrointestinal pathology. Dr. Robert Vasquez, a fellow in breast pathology at Mt. Sinai Hospital, NYC, will join us in July 2021. Recruitments in the recent past also have been successful, and Krzysztof Glomski, MD, Ronald Araneta, MD, and Thomas Mezzetti, MD, have all been integrated into the department. As in years past, the department provided on-site assessment and tissue triage for 25 Connecticut Children’s renal biopsy procedures. This total is down from previous years (37 were received in 2019). All but one of these specimens were FedEx’ed to Columbia University pathologists the same day they were received. We continue to expand the laboratory offerings in immunohistochemistry and molecular pathology, expanding markers used for diagnostic pathology and also ones that have therapeutic implications. NEW PROGRAMS
Anatomic Pathology We are participating in a new research study collaborating with a vendor (Cytoveris) and the HHC Breast Surgery Division to use spectroscopy in evaluation of gross margins intraoperatively.
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ANNUAL ACADEMIC REPORT 2020
Informatics A lot of background work got put into implementation of expanding the scope and capability of whole slide digital scanning. Various vendors were evaluated, information technology leadership was engaged, and a large capacity scanner purchased. This will be implemented in 2021, allowing us to begin digitization of glass slides, which will have significant positive impact on the work-flow. LABORATORY MEDICINE
Microbiology Over the course of 2020, the HHC Ancillary Microbiology Laboratory at Newington implemented the following instruments and/or assays to provide in-house SARS-CoV-2 NAA (molecular) testing. a. By Dec. 30, 2020, HHC had performed 91,038 in-house tests for the system.
i. Abbott m2000 assay onto the current m2000 instrument by way of routing standard viral loads to a reference laboratory ii. Biofire torch additional modules and a base for HH: implemented the SARS-CoV-2 single assay when it was available and validated the RP2.1 assay, which will be available to order in January 2021 iii. Addition of a Panther Plus instrument and a Panther fusion module for SARS-CoV-2 NAA testing iv. Luminex Aries instrument added for SARSCoV-2 testing v. Addition of Genexperts at the affiliate hospitals across the system and SARSCoV-2 NAA as well as the multiplex for influenza A/B, RSV, and SARS-CoV-2 at each affiliate
