Effective today, September 24, 2012, there will be a change in methodology for serum protein electrophoresis testing.  This testing will change from traditional gel electrophoresis to capillary electrophoresis.  The instrument vendor (Sebia) will stay the same.  This will affect the following tests:

"SERUM PROTEIN ELECTROPHORESIS" (SPE)  [LAB953]
"SERUM IMMUNOFIXATION ELECTROPHORESIS" (SIFE)  [LAB156]

In this transition, electrophoresis testing will move to Core Laboratory (Chemistry) from Immunopathology.

There are some changes in result ranges and format:

(1) For SPEP analysis, capillary electrophoresis can separately resolve beta-1 and beta-2 fractions.  Therefore, these individual fractions in addition to a total beta fraction will be reported for SPEP analysis.

(2) For SPEP analysis, reference ranges will change to those appropriate for the new methodology.  These are close to those for gel electrophoresis but do differ somewhat due to slight differences in resolution of various serum proteins.  There are separate reference ranges for males and females.  For the beta fraction, a reference range is only available for the total beta fraction.

(3) For SIFEs, a separate field in Epic will display the characteristics of the monoclonal protein (e.g., IgA kappa, IgA lambda, IgG kappa, IgG lambda, etc. or None).  This will allow easier trending across time in Epic Results Review.

It is anticipated that methodology for urine electrophoresis will change in mid-October.  A separate announcement will go out prior to that change.

Questions should be directed to Matthew Krasowski, MD, PhD, medical director of the Clinical Chemistry Laboratory (384-9380, matthew-krasowski@uiowa.edu).