suPAR in COVID-19 and emergency medicine in the Caribbean
Fri Jun 26 2020
By: Jérôme Bouffel, ViroGates
suPAR News Vol. 3, June 2020
Papa Gueye, MD, PhD, (Fig. 1, left) is heading the Emergency Medical Service Martinique French West Indies at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire (CHU) de Martinique (Fig. 2). He is also President of the Collège Carribéen de Médecine d’Urgence and of the 5ème Congrès des Urgences et SAMU des Outre-Mers.
The CHU of Martinique is a public hospital comprising seven sites whereof three sites include laboratory activity. One of the Core Labs, located at the hospital Pierre Zobda Quitman in Fort-de-France, is well equipped with a fully automated Abbott production line. Mael Padelli (Fig. 1, right) is one of the biochemists and PhD researchers in this laboratory.
Dr. Gueye has always been interested in new biomarkers. He discovered suPAR in the peer-reviewed literature and was further convinced about suPAR’s potential at the National French Urgences conference in Paris in 2019. Together with Prof. Yann-Erick Claessens, Head of the ED at Monaco Hospital, he joined the ViroGates booth to discuss the potential of suPAR in emergency triage.
“To minimize the spread of COVID-19 and to be
able to identify patients in need of extra attention, a study of suPAR in patients suspected with COVID-19 was initiated.”
MD, PhD, heading the Emergency Medical Service Martinique French West Indies at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire (CHU) de Martinique
suPAR News Vol. 3, June 2020
Dr. Gueye decided to use suPAR for two purposes. The first was to apply suPAR as a prognostic biomarker in relation to Dengue Fever in the local population. Secondly, he wanted to include suPAR as a triage marker at the ED.
suPAR was onboarded in the Core Lab of the CHU of Martinique on an Abbott Architect 16000 and in the nearby laboratory (Mangot-Vulcin Hospital) on a Roche cobas c502.
Before the planned suPAR measurements could begin, however, the COVID-19 pandemic broke out. As Martinique is an isolated island, COVID-19 could have a huge impact on the healthcare system. To minimize the spread of COVID-19 and to be able to identify patients with need of extra attention, a study of suPAR in patients suspected of COVID-19 infection was initiated. COVID-19 sampling sites were set up to minimize the spread of the virus at the hospital.
Results from this study will add to the decision on how to use suPAR for triage in clinical routine at the CHU of Martinique. All the results obtained with suPAR will be presented at the 5ème Congrès des Urgences et SAMU des Outre-Mers in December 2020.
Read more articles like this in the third edition of our magazine “suPAR News”.
