Modern Medical Laboratory Journal

A liver transplant is a surgical procedure that removes a liver that no longer functions properly (liver failure) and replaces it with a healthy liver from a deceased donor or a portion of a healthy liver from a living donor. Liver transplant is usually reserved as a treatment option for people who have significant complications due to end-stage chronic liver disease. Liver transplant may also be a treatment option in rare cases of sudden failure of a previously healthy liver.
In 1963, Starzl et al. performed the first liver transplantation. In the first five liver transplantations no patient survived more than 23 days. In 1967, stimulated by Calne who used antilymphocytic serum, Starzl began a successful series of liver transplantation. Until 1977, 200 liver transplantations were performed in the world. In that period, technical problems were overcome. Roy Calne, in 1979, used the first time cyclosporine in two patients who had undergone liver transplantation. In 1989, Starzl et al. reported a series of 1,179 consecutives patients who underwent liver transplantation and reported a survival rate between one and five years of 73% and 64%, respectively.  Liver Transplantation Program was initiated at Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein in 1990 and so far according to the American Liver Foundation, around 8,000 liver transplant surgeries are performed in the United States every year.
Read more

The ultrasound image is produced based on the reflection of the waves off of the body structures. In an ultrasound exam, a transducer both sends the sound waves and records the echoing (returning) waves. When the transducer is pressed against the skin, it sends small pulses of inaudible, high-frequency sound waves into the body. As the sound waves bounce off internal organs, fluids and tissues, the sensitive receiver in the transducer records tiny changes in the sound's pitch and direction. A computer instantly measures these signature waves and displays them as real-time pictures on a monitor. The technologist typically captures one or more frames of the moving pictures as still images. They may also save short video loops of the images.
Ultrasound imaging is a medical tool that can help a physician evaluate, diagnose and treat medical conditions. Common ultrasound imaging procedures include:

• Abdominal ultrasound (to visualize abdominal tissues and organs)
• Bone sonometry (to assess bone fragility)
• Breast ultrasound (to visualize breast tissue)
• Doppler fetal heart rate monitors (to listen to the fetal heart beat)
• Doppler ultrasound (to visualize blood flow through a blood vessel, organs, or other structures)
• Echocardiogram (to view the heart)
• Fetal ultrasound (to view the fetus in pregnancy)
• Ultrasound-guided biopsies (to collect a sample of tissue)
• Ophthalmic ultrasound (to visualize ocular structures
• Ultrasound-guided needle placement (in blood vessels or other tissues of interest)

Read more

The renal functional capacity can be assessed by measuring serum creatinine/blood urea nitrogen (BUN) or by urea and creatinine clearance. There are two types of dialysis procedures; it may be hemodialysis (using a machine/artificial kidney-like apparatus) or peritoneal dialysis (using a peritoneal membrane as a filter). Peritoneal dialysis is recommended for younger patients because of its flexibility and can be performed at home. Hemodialysis is done for patients with no residual renal function. Dr. Willem Kolff is considered the father of dialysis. This young Dutch physician constructed the first dialyzer (artificial kidney) in 1943. 

The mechanism of hemodialysis:

In hemodialysis, the wastes and excess water are removed by using an external filter called a dialyzer, which contains a semipermeable membrane. The separation of wastes is done by creating a counter-current flow gradient, where blood flow is in one direction and the fluid of the dialyzer is in the opposite direction. Peritoneal dialysis uses the peritoneum as a natural semipermeable membrane and removes waste and water into the dialysate (the material or fluid that passes through the membrane of the dialysis).
Read more

Karyotyping involves analysis of the entire chromosome complement through the microscope. Dividing cells are harvested during metaphase, the time of greatest chromosome condensation, by disruption of the spindle using drugs such as colchicine. Chromosomes are visualized by staining, including the use of special stains to elicit banding patterns. In general GC-rich regions tend to be gene rich and stain darkly with G-banding, bright with R-banding, and dark with Q-banding.

Karyotyping is able to detect polyploidy, aneuploidy, translocations, inversions, rings, and copy number changes in the size range of 4–6 Mb; smaller copy number changes require the use of molecular cytogenetic techniques.
Read more

Read More

A PET scan is an effective way to help identify a variety of conditions, including cancer, heart disease and brain disorders. Your doctor can use this information to help diagnose, monitor or treat your condition.
Read more