Clinical biology and pathology

The first part of the course is devoted to an introduction on clinical chemistry including basic definitions (immunoassays, antigens, haptens, antibodies, polyclonal antibodies, monoclonal antibodies). It also discusses the antigen / antibody reaction, the various immunoassay techniques and conditions (agglutination, precipitation, nephelometry, turbidimetry) as well as the marker immunoassays (competitive method and immunometric method, illustrated by diagrams).The advantages and disadvantages of each technique will be discussed. Other aspects will also be discussed such as the various antibodies used in immunoassays (the characteristics of a polyclonal serum, the production of antibodies, etc.), radioactive labeling, enzymatic markers and luminescent markers.The second part is devoted to clinical enzymology, which presents 1/4 of clinical biology analyzes in terms of diagnosis and follow-up. The main enzymes of clinical interest will be presented as well as enzymatic kinetics, and diagnostic enzymology (origins and causes of enzyme variations in plasma, choice of enzymatic marker, enzyme determination, clinical interpretation). The third part of the course deals with the medical applications of different assay techniques, including markers of renal and hepatic function, cardiac and phospho-calcium markers, major tumor markers and some examples of endocrine diseases. At each session, a clinical case will be presented illustrating the dosing techniques currently used in clinical biology laboratories and highlighting the diagnostic contribution of an analytical result. The last part focuses on quality assurance in the laboratory by introducing quality control principles and some notions of biostatistics (the various variables and their measurement - pre-analytical variation, analytical and biological variation). 

Give an overview of the place of clinical chemistry in the medical diagnosis and operating requirements of a clinical chemistry laboratory.

Ex cathedra courses

References, bibliography, and recommended reading

Carl A. Burtis, Edward R. Ashwood, Tietz Textbook of Clinical Chemistry, third edition, SAUNDERS 1999:265-356, Christopher P. Price, David J. Newman Principles and practice of immunoassay Macmillan, 1992 D. Wild The immunoassay handbook Nature Publishing Group 2001 X. Bossuyt, J.M. Boeynaems repères en diagnostic de laboratoire. Grant, 2011 Carl E. Speicher The rught test WB Saunders 1998 Danielle B. Freedman et al Challenges at the clinical interface AAC Press, 2001

Contacts

Marie Tré-Hardy

Laboratoire LBS

marie.tre-hardy@ulb.ac.be

Method(s) of evaluation

• Other

Other

Mark calculation method (including weighting of intermediary marks)

Oral presentation during the year of a dissertation on the dosage of a molecule of interest in clinical biology: 2 pointsWritten exam on the whole course: 18 pointsFinal score (/ 20 points): Oral presentation + Written examination.

Language(s) of evaluation

• english
• french