Sigma Medical Laboratory Inc (SMLI) offers many services for physicians.

PROFESSIONAL CONSULTATION

Members of our staff are always available to answer your questions, discuss test results, consult on unusual cases, or arrange for special studies. For professional consultations or to request specimen pick up, test results, add-ons, specimen collection material, general information, and specimen requirements please call (784) 451 1011.

HIV TESTING – HIV ½ Ag/Ab Combo

Did you realize that Sigma’s HIV test is an Antigen / Antibody Combo Test? This 4th Generation rapid test allows you to detect HIV infection 5 – 7 days earlier than HIV antibody testing only. It can detect HIV infection as early as 12 days post exposure. HIV – ½ antibodies first appear significantly later – 20 to 45 days after infection.

Studies show that current antibody only tests miss 10.5% of HIV infections in some high-risk populations because they do not detect antigens.

Individuals who are unaware of their infection are 3.5 times more likely to transmit the virus to someone else.

CHLAMYDIA ANTIGEN TESTING

Did you know that Sigma now also offers Chlamydia Antigen testing to complement its Chlamydia Antibody test? This new rapid test is one of the best in the market. Its manufacturer was the winner of the 2007 Tech Museum Awards (USA) in the Health Category for the Signal Amplification System they developed, technology that underpins and improves the sensitivity of rapid tests. Another advantage of this test is that it uses a vaginal swab instead of the more invasive endocerrical swab for female specimens. The test also uses a FirstBurst device-collected urine for males. The FirstBurst Urine Collection Device facilitates collection of the first four to five millilitres of urine that contain the highest load of organism.

Past experience has shown that some Chlamydia Antibody post-treatment Test results appear to be more individually rather than scientifically based and sometimes present ambiguous and confusing values. Sigma recognized this shortfall and took the decision to introduce this new Chlamydia Antigen Rapid Test as a post-therapy test option. The test detects Chlamydia antigen and therefore does not differentiate between acute and chronic infections.

ANA PROFILE

Did you know that Sigma has a comprehensive ANA Profile test on offer? This membrane-based immunoblot test provide semi quantitative determination of 9 Antinuclear Auto antibodies as can aid in the diagnosis of Thermatologic autoimmune diseases. The following antibodies are screened for: dsDNA, Nucleaosome, SS-A, SS-B, Sm, RNP/Sm, Scl-70, Jo-1 and Systemic autoimmune diseases are multifactorial in their clinical presentation and it has become increasingly clear that they can be distinguished on the basis of their antinuclear antibody (ANA) profiles. This profile puts you in the right direction.

CYSTATIN C

Did youknow that you can get Cystativ C testing done at Sigma Medical Laborartory Inc?
Cystatin C is the newest kidney function (GFR) marker in the industry. GFR is needed to determine the stage of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) and is used to determine the appropriate clinical action plan.

A substantial body of evidence has developed over the past several years which supports the use of Cystatin C as an alternative and more sensitive endogenous maker for the estimation of GFR than serum creatimine and serum creatimine based GFR estimations. Cystatin C can detect sall changes in GFR and unlike Creatimin, Cystalin C serum levels are virtually affected by age (> 1 yr), muscle mass, gender and race.

SPECIMEN LABELING

All specimens submitted to the Laboratory for testing must be labeled with the following information:

• Patient first and last name (NOTE: Last name only is unacceptable)
• Date of birth or unit (Medical Record) number
• Date specimen collected
• Initials of person obtaining sample and time of collection
• Specimen source if not blood