Re: [Gnumed-devel] basic test types - Sample type prefixes

[J Busser]

A regional lab sent out notice that it will incorporate into test 
results internationally recognized preixes to denote sample types:

B- Blood
Br- Breath
F- Faeces
P- Plasma
S- Serum
Semf- Seminal fluid
Sp- Sputun
Synf- Synovial fluid
T- Tissue
U- Urine
RBC- Red Blood Cell
WBC- White Blood Cell

For possible reference I asked the origin of these and below came the reply:

-----Original Message-----

>  Date: Wed Oct 06 10:20:00 PDT 2004
>  From: "O'Brien, Pat" <address@hidden>
>  Subject: RE: Sample type prefixes - internationally recognized
>  To: "'James Busser'" <address@hidden>
>
>  Dear Dr. Busser:
>
>  Thank you for your interest.
>
>  Although I have perused a number of papers on this subject, the following
>  sources were the ones primarily used to help with standardizing the way we
>  report results:
>  *International Federation of Clinical Chemistry
>  *International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry
>  *SI Manual in Health Care produced by Metric Commission Canada Sector
>  Committee 9.10 Health and Welfare.
>  College of American Pathologists
>
>  There have been some prefixes that are recommended by the IFCC that I chose
>  not to use at this time because I thought they might cause confusion.  These
>  are:
>         Erc for Red Blood Cell
>         Lkc for White Blood Cell
>         Sf for Cerebral Spinal Fluid
>  Also, there seem to be no universally recognized prefixes for "semen" or
>  "nasal".
>
>  It is a difficult job to employ all the recommendations of these committees
>  when I know that some of these abbreviations are not yet recognized, yet if
>  we don't use them, they never will be....something of a dilemma.
>
>  Our purpose is to standardize the appearance of our reports and hopefully
>  make them clearly readable and understood.  We are hampered by space
>  limitations, so still have a product that is not perfect.
>
>  I hope this information is useful to you.
>
>  Sincerely,
>
>  Pat O'Brien, R+D Tech, MDS