When you get into your car, what’s the first thing you do? Perhaps you are the sole owner/operator of that vehicle and can just slide in, fasten your seatbelt, and take off. If you share a vehicle, driving away may take a few extra steps. My wife and I sometimes share vehicles, so I know ..read more

Case History A 73 year old male with a complex medical history, including type 1 diabetes, coronary artery disease, atrial fibrillation, hypothyroidism, hyperlipidemia, glaucoma, previous coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), and an implanted cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD), presented with bilateral persistent paraspinal neck pain, shaking chills, and myalgias. The initial evaluation involved ..read more

Change is inevitable. Humans naturally resist change, and it is a leader’s responsibility to help inspire their followers to embrace the continuous improvement mindset and become change agents. Clearly, this topic is dear to me as it fueled my dissertation. In laboratory medicine, we’re privy to some remarkable technologies, yet our fear of being replaced ..read more

Case History A 36 year old male with no past medical history presented to an outside hospital with two weeks of worsening headache, fever, and altered mental status. The patient initially presented to his primary care physician with a headache, for which he received an antibiotic injection. Over the next several days, he developed a ..read more

The latest Japanese Godzilla movie, Godzilla Minus One, is now available for home viewing or streaming, and as a life-long G-fan, I was excited to watch it again. The story begins in a ravaged Tokyo, right after the end of World War II, and everything is a mess. When Godzilla arrives, even more waste is ..read more

Case History A 70 year old female with a medical history of treatment-related acute myeloid leukemia with absolute neutropenia due to chemotherapy presented to our emergency department with a two-day history of fever (Tmax 102°C) with progressively increasing erythema and tenderness reported in her right elbow around a healing surgical incision. Approximately one month prior ..read more

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” – George Santayana. Unfortunately, there are many mistakes to learn from if we examine the history of forensic science. Despite being a relatively new discipline, there have been several disastrous failures that were only realized following the advent of DNA analysis – bite mark ..read more

A 47 year old female presented to the ER with abdominal pain and obstructive jaundice. CT and MRI imaging confirmed a 9.7 cm complex pancreatic head and uncinate process mass that encases and obliterates the distal superior mesenteric vein, encases the superior mesenteric artery, abuts the aorta and IVC and extends into the aortocaval space ..read more

A 28 year old woman underwent an elective myomectomy for menorrhagia caused by fibroids. Postoperatively, she developed fevers. A CT scan of the abdomen and pelvis showed a complex pelvic fluid collection measuring 5.4 by 4.4 by 7.0 cm. Drainage was attempted by Interventional Radiology without success. She then underwent an exploratory laparotomy with drainage of ..read more

When it comes to laboratory testing at autopsy, our options are limited compared to those for living patients. We’ve previously discussed the complexities of postmortem toxicology testing (https://labmedicineblog.com/2023/05/23/toxicology-and-forensic-pathology-more-than-a-numbers-game/) but even basic laboratory studies like a glucose or sodium level cannot be reliably measured from postmortem serum specimens. Upon death, hemolysis and cellular breakdown rapidly set ..read more