From the laboratory of the Virgen Macarena Hospital to the rest of the Spanish laboratories. Three medical experts from the Clinical Analysis Service have placed the Seville Center at the helm of the Spanish Society of Laboratory Medicine, presiding over three of its national specialty commissions, a feat never achieved before by any other health center. And that value is, in the words of the head of the service, Antonio Leon Justel, the “technical scientific quality” of its professionals.
“We are very satisfied as this is a line of work we have been working on for a long time. They are appointments which, apart from logically giving visibility to the professionals, also give the hospital service and its work,” he adds.
The three protagonists are Antonio Barco Sánchez, Patricia Fernández Rijos and Teresa Arrobas Velila and the specialties in which they have been selected by the Society as national benchmarks are biological markers of cancer, renal function and lipids and vascular disease, respectively. “This is of added value, as there are three areas of major impact, which include highly prevalent diseases and have a major impact on health,” says Leon Justel. Three features that, through the Commission in particular that he presides over, and the Society in general, will place the Center in a national showcase as the progress achieved in the Sevillian laboratory will later be exported to other hospitals.
Technological innovations developed and implemented in recent years have generated fundamental changes in clinical laboratories, both from instrumental and methodological points of view, as well as the necessary skills and knowledge that professionals specializing in clinical analysis and clinical biochemistry Professionals must acquire. National commissions of specialties of scientific societies work in favor of unifying standards across all laboratories in the country, harmonizing clinical reports and, very important, working jointly with physicians to promote early diagnosis. are committed to. They are made up of twelve professionals from all the hospitals in the country, plus one reserved place for a resident.
Lipoprotein commission
“One of the main areas of my work is to try to work together with other scientific societies belonging to the same field,” says Dr. Arrobas. It is the most experienced in the Spanish Society of Laboratory Medicine. For three years he was supported as a point of reference in the Commission on Lipoproteins and Vascular Diseases, where he assumed the presidency in February 2021. or webinars, always from a multidisciplinary approach and to integrate criteria and set guidelines”, he explains.
Within the National Society, the President is elected “by experience and reputation”, highlights the predominance of clinical analysis. Teresa Arrobas came to the commission when she was a resident. “Little by little, the generational change and the impact that is taking place in the specialty, through your day-to-day work and through publications and research projects, society values you and, therefore, holds the proposal responsible” , says the doctor.
The existence of a commission of this type within the Spanish Society of Laboratory Medicine is supported by the high prevalence and risk of mortality of vascular diseases whose follow-up has always been more “in the hands of physicians than in the laboratory”, Dr. Arbos. “The fact that the laboratory is integrated into these prevention and treatment strategies with the various protocols that we have established and pioneered in Macarena and that have since been exported to other hospitals makes possible a new way of working together.” making,” he says.
Tumor Marker Commission
Dr. Antonio Barco has the same sentiment, in his case, having recently landed the presidency of the National Commission on Cancer Tumor Markers, of which, like Dr. Arrobas, he was already a part. “Always” dedicated to the management of oncological pathology, Doctor Macarena and is also part of the Central Tumor Commission in the Urological and Thoracic Tumors Subcommittee. In its new guise, their objective is clear: to develop algorithms that facilitate early diagnosis of very aggressive types of cancer, such as ovarian or lung cancer.
To this end, it is working on the development of algorithms, which have already been presented at conferences, and other multi-centre studies, which it is confident will be published shortly. “And not only that, but, from the lab, we also do follow-up and we can detect tumor recurrence before it becomes visible by imaging tests, so we can notify the physician and act sooner.” .. All this has the effect of reducing costs for the health care system and increasing patient survival, which is the most important thing”, he explains. “The experience we always try to export to other centers,” he says.
Committee on Kidney Function and Urinalysis
Kidney disease is also highly prevalent. Therefore, it is another special commission that creates the Spanish Society of Laboratory Medicine, whose reins have just passed into the hands of Macarena doctor Patricia Fernández Rijos. Getting here is the “greatest pride” of his professional career. “We are a transversal diagnostic support service. We belong to many specialties and throughout our career what we try to do is to be at the service of the patient and help the physicians with everything they request. The Spanish Society offers you a can choose within the field. Knowledge as a representative of its scientific directions is a source of great pride, which translates into work, because you are recognized for the work you are doing, and that only throughout the career can be a reward for, but also a projection into, the future,” he says.
Among his objectives at this stage, Dr. Fernandez Rijos is committed to increasing contact with physicians, in this case with nephrologists. “They’re the ones who treat the patient directly, but I believe in this constant collaboration between the lab and the clinic. That’s where the patient wins. I’m going to work promoting all kinds of training activities.” attendance at congresses, publication of consensus articles and documents, but above all, I wish to promote laboratory collaboration projects with clinical units, nephrology, and export experience from our laboratory to other Spanish laboratories. “, they tell.
