Introduction: An oligoclonal pattern on serum immunofixation electrophoresis (SIFE), is defined by the presence of more than two monoclonal bands on the gel. It results from the proliferation of small clones of plasma cells within the bone marrow.
Material and methods: It is a retrospective study from July 1, 2024, to July 31, 2025, analyzing results of SIFE performed on Hydrasis Sebia at Mohammed VI National Laboratory. When serum capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) was also present, abnormalities were noted.
Results: The study found 22 cases of oligoclonal pattern. Majority of patients are older than 50 years old (72,5%). Most frequent isotype is IgG associated with light kappa and lambda chains (55%). Corresponding serum CZE all included an abnormality in the gamma globulin area.
Discussion: An oligoclonal pattern or profile results from the proliferation of small plasma cells clones. These abnormalities are common in elderly subjects due to the immune system’s impairment. The detection of oligoclonal bands is easy but must remain precautious. Etiologies associated with such profiles include autoimmune, infectious diseases or malignant pathologies (lymphomas, plasma cells leukemia). A contributive interpretation could include a detailed report of the bands found on the gel in order to allow the detection of any ulterior modification of the clonality. Conclusion: An appropriate interpretation of an oligoclonal profile can only be done according to patient’s clinical history. It is recommended to repeat the SIFE to allow an early diagnosis of any monoclonal gammopathy.
Through its involvement in a quality approach, the medical biology laboratory (MBL) seeks above all to satisfy the needs of its customers. The question is whether the production processes and improvements undertaken by the biologist are converging towards optimum performance. In order to do this, an effective evaluation process must be set up to assess the extent to which the MBL is meeting the requirements and objectives it has set itself. The aim of this paper is to identify the performance indicators of an MBL’S operational process and to develop a dashboard for evaluating its performance. For this study, we surveyed the literature to identify the various indicators used to measure business process performance. Once the indicators had been selected, we proceeded to contextualize and validate them by organizing a focus group. This focus group enabled us to add certain indicators and eliminate others, and to design a dashboard that offers a global and synthetic vision, and represents a turnkey solution for biologists to monitor laboratory activity in a quest for effectiveness and efficiency.
Bisalbuminemia is a rare electrophoretic abnormality of the albumin fraction, characterized by a doubling of this fraction on the electrophoretic trace of serum proteins, reflecting the presence in the same individual of normal plasma albumin and structurally altered albumin, which may be of acquired etiology, rarely hereditary. The aim of this article is to study the etiologies and prevalence of bisalbuminemias associated with nephropathies discovered on serum protein electrophoresis at the biochemistry laboratory of the university hospital Ibn Rochd in Casablanca. This is a retrospective study of serum protein electrophoretic capillary tracings revealing bisalbuminemia in patients hospitalized in the nephrology department at university hospital Ibn Rochd in Casablanca over an 18-month period. 29 electrophoretic profiles out of 242 showed bisalbuminemia, i.e. 12% of all electrophoretic tracings in 29 patients presenting with acute or chronic nephropathy. The average age was 45±22 years, with a sex ratio (M/F) of 2.22. The etiologies of the nephropathies were dominated by renal amyloidosis with 24.14%, followed by minimal glomerular lesion nephropathies, extramembranous glomerulonephritis and lupus nephropathies with 17.24% each, and finally membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis with 6.9%. Among secondary etiologies, betalactam use was highlighted in 13.8% of cases, no patient in the series had a labelled pancreatopathy, and the presence of a monoclonal gammapathy was objectified in only one case in the series. This study illustrates the varied etiologies of bisalbuminemia associated with nephropathy, requiring detailed knowledge to enable proper interpretation of electrophoretic profiles.
In December 2019 an infection with a new virus called SARS-COV2 emerged the Wuhan area in China and took the name of COVID-19 (Corona Virus Disease 2019). This disease has spread globally to the point of being called a pandemic by the WHO. Although mainly respiratory in nature, COVID-19 seems to trigger an intense inflammatory response, with a multi-systemic impact including the cardiovascular system. In this work, we propose to synthesize and analyze data from the literature to determine the usefulness of troponin measurement in patients with COVID-19. Cardiac troponin is a laboratory parameter and its measurement is relevant in the management of Covid-19 given the frequency of associated cardiovascular lesions. Several observational studies have shown that patients with Covid-19 have significant elevation of troponin levels up to 59%; however, increased troponin levels are considered predictive of mortality.
The verification/validation of a method is a necessary prerequisite before any activity in a medical biology laboratory. Also, it is important to remember the control of the risks associated with any dosing method as well as the impact of pre-analytical conditions on the post-analytical step. The objective of this work is to evaluate the analytical performance of serum and urinary glucose assay using the hexokinase enzymatic method of the manufacturer Abbott on the Alinity automaton of the same manufacturer. The verified parameters are reproducibility and repeatability, through the results of internal quality controls retrieved by creating procedures in the section of validation/verification of methods in our software: Big. The results of the performance evaluation in terms of reproducibility and repeatability demonstrate a perfect compliance of this method of serum and urine glucose determination by the Abbott kit on the Alinity PLC of the same manufacturer.
Gaucher disease is an autosomal recessive genetic metabolic disorder due to an inherited disorder of metabolism, resulting from glucocerebrosidase deficiency, resulting in the deposition of glucocerebroside and its components. The clinical symptoms are different depending on the type of the disease, but it is usually hepatosplenomegaly or damage to the central nervous system.Laboratory diagnosis can use routine analyzes such as ferritin, HDL, vitamin b12, folate, serum iron, but also specialized ones such as serum protein electrophoresis as well as immunofixation for the typing of immunoglobulins.Through this work, we will shed light on the interest of serum protein electrophoresis in the biological orientation of the biology diagnosis of Gaucher disease, and this through case illustrations.Confirmatory laboratory diagnosis is based on DNA analysis and / or enzymatic analysis of white blood cells, and by demonstrating a decrease in β-glucosidase activity...
Mitochondrial diseases, are the most frequent hereditary diseases of metabolism. They are characterized by a dysfunction of the respiratory chain, which results in an energy deficit.These are very heterogeneous diseases, with a very variable clinical presentation and often difficult diagnosis. They are due to the alteration of very diverse genes located either on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) or on the nuclear genome. Recent technological advances with exon sequencing have led to the discovery of many genes involved and to better understand the pathophysiological mechanisms of these diseases, which are essential for the development of specific treatments.The diagnostic approach consists in recognizing the disease in front of the clinical presentation, For clinical practice, the diagnostic approach of mitochondrial cytopathies would be more easy if the practitioner keeps in mind the most evocative clinical pictures and if he provides proof of the mitochondrial anomaly by biochemical, radiological and histopathological explorations. Only the highlighting of the causative gene makes it possible to affirm the diagnosis of mitochondrial disease. Genetic diagnosis allows genetic counseling, in order to support the prognosis, particularly pejorative for early-onset forms.
Background: Hypothyroidism is among the most common endocrine disease; it is often associated with dyslipidemia which increases cardiovascular risk. This study was conducted to study the prevalence and profile of dyslipidemia during primary hypothyroidism and justify screening for dyslipidemia during hypothyroidism.Methods: Retrospective study, in the biochemistry department CHU Ibn Rochd of Casablanca from 2019 to March 2020 involving all patients who received a lipid assessment and a TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone) assay in the biochemistry laboratory. TSH was estimated by an immunoenzymatic method: chemiluminescence. The LDL-assayed (Low Density Lipoprotein), HDL (High Density Lipoprotein), TG (Triglycerides), CT (Total Cholesterol) parameters were estimated by an enzymatic colorimetric method, the LDL-calculated was calculated by the friedwald formula.Results: These were 1046 patients: 66.73% Women, 33.23% Men (sex ratio M / F = 0.49). The mean age was 41.66 years ± 13.86. The mean TSH value was 23.09 mIU / L. Dyslipidemia was noted in 91.78% of cases.The prevalences of, hypoHDLemia, hypercholesterolemia, hypertriglyceridemia, hyperLDLemia, were respectively: 82.12%; 32.5%; 23.32%; 10.8%.The correlation between TSH and LDL was negative (P> 0.05) while it was positive with TG (P> 0.05), HDL (P <0.05) and CT (P> 0.05).Conclusion: Hypothyroid patients show a significant increase in serum lipids. This atherogenic lipid profile should be systematically sought when monitoring patients with hypothyroidism to prevent cardiovascular complications.
The delocalized medical biology examinations are carried out outside the laboratory near the patient by staff outside the laboratory, which saves time in obtaining the results. These examinations are subject to the same regulations as examinations carried out in a medical biology laboratory and are the responsibility of medical biologists who retain responsibility for validating the results obtained.This development of the implantation of analytical devices of medical biology in the care units (outside the laboratory of the hospital) can be justified by several factors: medical emergencies, organizational constraints, the distance from the laboratory....In this work we tried to analyze the state of affairs of delocalized biology and to reveal the problems of delocalized biology of our ibn Rochd hospital center in Casablanca.
The Covid-19 outbreak is a global pandemic officially declared on March 12, 2020, with more than two million deaths. To assess the role of Procalcitonin as a biomarker of the specific inflammatory response and C-Réactive Protein as a stable and early biomarker of acute inflammation in pathogenesis and disease severity, we conducted a prospective descriptive study in the biochemistry laboratory of the Ibn Rochd University Of Casablanca Morocco in Covid-19 positive patients hospitalized in resuscitation. These biomarkers were abnormally increased in most of these patients. All of the patients who died had a positive admission CRP that would support a positive correlation between the increase in CRP and the severity of infection, without any correlation between CRP values in our study population with age or sex. The follow-up of the PRC could reflect its severity and should be used as a key monitoring indicator for Covid-19. PCT values at admission can predict the progression to a severe form of the disease. However, its synthesis is inhibited by interferon (INF) -γ, whose concentration increases during Coronavirus-2 infection.
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