Clinical Guidelines

02

ACS Clinical Guidelines

Background

The ACS developed Clinical guidelines in 2006 to assist its members design and develop malignant and no-malignant clinical flow cytometric assays. A workshop was convened at the ACS conference in 2014 to discuss the review of these ‘old’ guidelines and how to update them to reflect the most current technologies, methods and gating strategies.

The guidelines describe minimum testing requirements to assist with laboratories setting up new assays, review assays in use, and provide reference material for laboratory assessments and audits. With compliance requirements from the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), laboratories can utilise these guidelines to assist with validation for In-House IVDs assays. They are recommended for use in laboratory audits and NATA assessments reflecting Australasia wide consensus. Checklists are being prepared for this purpose.

A Clinical Guidelines Taskforce was created in 2015 to address the requirements of our members. The Task force identified areas of need and formed Work Groups for each guideline made up of experts from around New Zealand and Australia. They were tasked with devising the guideline format, scope of each guideline, terms of reference, timeline and resources needed. Work groups performed the literature reviews, observed current practices and posted draft guidelines on the website for ACS members comments.

An important part of the process is involvement of ACS members and promoting guideline uptake and application. These were put to ACS members, who critiqued and sent in their suggestions, some joining the Work Groups though their input. Annual reviews will take place to ensure documents are up to date with current practice.

To date, we have published 10 guidelines with more in the pipeline. The guidelines have served as a networking platform for those who wish to collaborate or simply require assistance in setting up laboratories and assay. For comments or interest in these guidelines please contact us


ACS CLINICAL GUIDELINE WORK GROUPS


Leukaemia and Lymphoma and Clinical Flow Laboratory Practice

  • Michelle Petrasich, NZ, Senior Scientist, Auckland City Hospital
  • Sandy Smith, NSW, Senior Scientist, St Vincent’s Sydney
  • Susan Wright, TAS, Senior Scientist, Royal Hobart Hospital
  • Vuong Nguyen, VIC, Senior Scientist, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
  • Kate Marson, NZ, Technical Specialist Haematology, LabPlus Auckland
  • Neil Came, VIC, Haematologist, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
  • Bill Sewell, NSW, Haematologist, St Vincent’s Sydney
  • Neil McNamara, NSW, Senior Scientist, Liverpool Sydney
  • Sheree Bailey, SA, Senior Scientist, SA Path, Flinders Medical Centre Adelaide
  • Elizabeth Todorova, VIC, Haematologist, Eastern Health Pathology Melbourne

ACS Guideline for Clinical Flow Cytometry Laboratory Practice

ACS Guideline for Haematology Oncology Immunophenotyping

ACS CHECKLIST Laboratory Assessment of Haematology Oncology Immunophenotyping

ACS CHECKLIST Assessment of Clinical Flow Cytometry Laboratory Practice


Paroxysmal Nocturnal Haemoglobinuria

  • Sandy Smith (Leader), NSW, Senior Scientist, St Vincent’s Sydney
  • Emanuel Raniolo, SA, Senior Scientist, Women & Childrens Adelaide
  • Kate Marson, NZ, Technical Specialist Haematology, LabPlus Auckland
  • Elizabeth Bernal, NSW, Haematologist, DHM Sydney
  • Janine Davies, WA, Scientist, PathWest QEII Medical Centre
  • Neil McNamara, NSW, Senior Scientist, Liverpool Sydney

ACS Guideline for PNH Immunophenotyping


CD34 Enumeration

  • Michelle Petrasich (chair), NZ, Senior Scientist, Auckland City Hospital
  • Susan Wright, TAS, Senior Scientist, Royal Hobart Hospital
  • Sandy Smith, NSW, Senior Scientist, St Vincent’s Sydney
  • Vuong Nguyen, VIC, Senior Scientist, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
  • Neil McNamara, NSW, Senior Scientist, Liverpool Sydney

ACS Guideline for CD34 Haematopoietic Progenitor Cell Enumeration


HLA Alloantibodies and HLAB27 Immunophenotyping

  • Sue Wong (Leader), NSW, Senior Scientist, Westmead Sydney
  • Sandy Smith, NSW, Senior Scientist, St Vincent’s Sydney
  • Neil McNamara, NSW, Senior Scientist, Liverpool Sydney
  • Ian Nicholson, VIC, Senior Scientist Aust Red Cross Blood Service
  • Jonathan Downing, NZ, Technical Specialist Tissue Typing, NZ Blood Service
  • Lyanne Weston, NSW, Snr Clinical Scientist, Aust Red Cross Blood Service
  • Jeremy McComish, NSW, Immunopathologist, Aust Red Cross Blood Service
  • Brian Tait, NSW, Hon Snr Research Fellow, Aust Red Cross Blood Service

ACS Guideline for Flow Cytometric Assessment of HLA Alloantibodies

ACS Guideline for HLAB27 Immunophenotyping


Lymphocyte Subset Enumeration

  • Sandy Smith, NSW, Senior Scientist, St Vincent’s Sydney
  • Gosia Gorniak, VIC, Senior Scientist, Alfred Hospital Melbourne
  • Bill Sewell, NSW, Haematologist, St Vincent’s Sydney
  • Neil McNamara, NSW, Senior Scientist, Liverpool Sydney

ACS Guideline For Lymphocyte Subset Immunophenotyping


Hereditary Spherocytosis

  • Janine Davies, WA, Scientist PathWest, QEII Medical Centre Perth
  • Donna Cross, QLD, Senior Scientist, Path Qld, Princess Alexandra, Brisbane

ACS Guideline for Eosin-5-Maldemide Testing of Red Blood Cells


Minimal Residual Disease Testing

  • Vuong Nguyen, VIC, Senior Scientist, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
  • Neil Came, VIC, Haematologist, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
  • Aruna Kodituwakku, SA, Immunopathologist, Royal Adelaide Hospital
  • Gosia Gorniak, VIC, Senior Scientist, Alfred Hospital Melbourne
  • Mary Sartor, NSW, Senior Scientist, Westmead Sydney


Haemoglobin F

  • Alireza Ardjmand, NSW, Senior Scientist, NSW Health Pathology
  • Michelle Burns, NZ, Technical Lead, Canterbury Health Laboratories
  • Michael Gooch, QLD, Medical Scientist, QML Pathology
  • Pam Stewart, NZ, Senior Scientist, Waikato DHB
  • Steve Valentine, Application Specialist, Abacus Dx

ACS GUIDELINES UNDER DEVELOPMENT

Email your feedback and comments to clinicalguidelines@cytometry.org.au


Myeloma

  • Kay Turner, SA, Senior Tech Officer Haem, Women’s and Children’s Adelaide
  • Neil Came, VIC, Haematologist, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
  • Bill Sewell, NSW, Haematologist, St Vincent’s Sydney
  • Kerry Stoner, WA, Scientist in Charge, Pathwest, Fiona Stanley Hosp, Perth

Guideline in development – can you help? Contact us


Primary Immune Deficiencies

  • Sandy Smith, NSW, Senior Scientist, St Vincent’s Sydney
  • David Fulcher, NSW, Immunopathologist, ICPMR Westmead
  • Bill Sewell, NSW, Haematologist, St Vincent’s Sydney
  • Aruna Kodituwakku, SA, Immunopathologist, Royal Adelaide Hospital

Guideline in development – can you help? Contact us


Myelodysplastic Syndrome

  • Vuong Nguyen, VIC, Senior Scientist, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
  • Neil Came, VIC, Haematologist, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
  • Fiona Robins, WA, Scientist, PathWest QE2 Medical Centre, Perth

Guideline in development – can you help? Contact us


Platelet Assays

  • Matthew Linden, WA, Associate Professor of Haematology, Uni of WA
  • David Connor, NSW, Research Officer, St Vincent’s Sydney
  • Ian Nicholson, VIC, Senior Scientist Aust Red Cross Blood Service

Guideline in development – can you help? Contact us


Neutrophil Function

  • Antonio Ferrante, SA, Clinical Scientist, SA Pathology WCH
  • Melanie Wong, NSW, Immunopathologist, The Children’s Hospital at Westmead
  • Alex Quach, SA, Scientist, SA Pathology WCH

Guideline in development – can you help? Contact us