Advanced Artificial Intelligence in Routine Hematology: Opportunities and Challenges

A special issue of Diagnostics (ISSN 2075-4418). This special issue belongs to the section "Clinical Laboratory Medicine".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2023) | Viewed by 1031

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Laboratory Medicine Division, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva University, 1205 Geneva, Switzerland
Interests: biomarkers; cardiovascular diseases; autoimmunity; atherosclerosis; inflammation; translational research

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Artificial intelligence (AI) is evolving at a substantial pace in all diagnostic sectors, including medical imaging, pathology and laboratory medicine. In the latter one, routine hematology/hemostasis is no exception, with different developments available to handle the ever-increasing volumes of work, increasing normative requirements and medical guidelines provided by academic societies. Meeting these goals, while also adhering to basic analytical rules of clinical importance, is a challenge. The accurate and timely diagnosis of hematology and coagulation disorders remain the cornerstone of optimal patient management and outcomes. Diagnostics aims to publish newly qualified papers that cover various diagnostic efforts for effective hematology and hemostasis diagnoses.

The scope of this Special Issue includes, but is not limited to:

  • Clinical studies of new hematological/hemostasis biomarkers;
  • Translational research to improve hematological/hemostasis diagnoses and precision medicine;
  • The importance of reference intervals and cut-offs in hematology/hemostasis diagnoses;
  • Thematic algorithms in routine hematology;
  • Digitization in cellular routine hematology;
  • The potential of artificial neural networks in routine hematology.

Prof. Dr. Nicolas Vuilleumier
Guest Editor

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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13 pages, 2069 KiB  
Article
Ferritin: A Biomarker Requiring Caution in Clinical Decision
by Baptiste Lemaire, Miguel A. Frias, Olivier Golaz, Jean-Luc Magnin, Véronique Viette, Nicolas Vuilleumier and Sophie Waldvogel Abramowski
Diagnostics 2024, 14(4), 386; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics14040386 - 10 Feb 2024
Viewed by 819
Abstract
Objectives. To determine the ferritin inter-assay differences between three “Conformité Européenne” (CE) marked tests, the impact on reference intervals (RI), and the proportion of individuals with iron deficiency (ID), we used plasma and serum from healthy blood donors (HBD) recruited in three different [...] Read more.
Objectives. To determine the ferritin inter-assay differences between three “Conformité Européenne” (CE) marked tests, the impact on reference intervals (RI), and the proportion of individuals with iron deficiency (ID), we used plasma and serum from healthy blood donors (HBD) recruited in three different Switzerland regions. Design and Methods. Heparinized plasma and serum from HBD were obtained from three different transfusion centers in Switzerland (Fribourg, Geneva, and Neuchatel). One hundred forty samples were recruited per center and per matrix, with a gender ratio of 50%, for a total of 420 HBD samples available per matrix. On both matrices, ferritin concentrations were quantified by three different laboratories using electrochemiluminescence (ECL), latex immunoturbidimetric assay (LIA), and luminescent oxygen channeling immunoassay (LOCI) assays, respectively. The degree of agreement between matrices and between the three sites/methods was assessed by Passing–Bablok and we evaluated the proportion of individuals deemed to have ID per method. Results. Overall, no difference between serum and heparinized plasma ferritin values was observed according to Passing–Bablok analyses (proportional bias range: 1.0–3.0%; maximum constant bias: 1.84 µg/L). Significant median ferritin differences (p < 0.001 according to Kruskal–Wallis test) were observed between the three methods (i.e., 83.6 µg/L, 103.5 µg/L, and 62.1 µg/L for ECL, LIA, and LOCI in heparinized plasma, respectively), with proportional bias varying significantly between ±16% and ±32% on serum and from ±14% to ±35% on plasma with no sign of gender-related differences. Affecting the lower end of RI, the proportion of ID per method substantially varied between 4.76% (20/420) for ECL, 2.86% (12/420) for LIA, and 9.05% (38/420) for LOCI. Conclusions. Serum and heparinized plasma are exchangeable for ferritin assessment. However, the order of magnitude of ferritin differences across methods and HBD recruitment sites could lead to diagnostic errors if uniform RI were considered. Challenging the recently proposed use of uniform ferritin thresholds, our results highlight the importance of method- and region-specific RI for ferritin due to insufficient inter-assay harmonization. Failing to do so significantly impacts ID diagnosis. Full article
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