[Future of clinical laboratory medicine--review of the system in United States].
As the clinical laboratory medicine is the integral bridge between clinical patient care and basic science, both the high quality patient care service and the active laboratory research challenges are indispensable. This article introduces the state of the department of laboratory medicine in M.D. Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC), Houston, Texas, USA. The department of laboratory medicine in MDACC processes over 4 million tests per year and performs over 1,800 different tests and assays with good cost effectiveness. The laboratory staff carry a heavy patient care service load in addition to laboratory support for the clinical research protocols in the other clinical divisions. Research projects in the laboratory medicine are aimed primarily at establishing new or improved methodologies and procedures for clinical laboratory testing, and evaluation of prototypes for new analytic instruments. Generally, the translation of the research findings into effective clinical laboratory tests is the important approach. The more strength should be on the productive research collaboration with basic science and clinician colleagues.
Department of Clinical Pathology, Juntendo University School of Medicine, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8421.
Yoko
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D019411:Clinical Laboratory Techniques / Q000191:economics / Q000639:trends*; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D014481:United States