[Histonet] Breast IHC testing

[Richard Cartun]

Those are recommendations from the CAP.  You can experiment and then validate longer fixation times.  Several papers have come out over the past two years demonstrating little, if any, impact on immunoreactivity for ER, PR, and HER2 when breast tissue has been fixed longer than 72 hours.  In my opinion, minimizing cold ischemic time, making sure the tissue does not dry out, and taking "thin" slices of tissue (2-3 mm) for fixation and processing are probably more important than time in formalin.  Hopefully, ASCO and CAP will change their recommendations based on these studies. 

Richard

Richard W. Cartun, MS, PhD
Director, Histology & Immunopathology
Director, Biospecimen Collection Programs
Assistant Director, Anatomic Pathology
Hartford Hospital
80 Seymour Street
Hartford, CT  06102
(860) 545-1596 Office
(860) 545-2204 Fax


>>> Gale Limron <GaleL <@t> unionhospital.org> 2/3/2012 10:24 AM >>>
I would like to know what other hospitals are doing with breast specimens that are resected on Friday and are in formalin longer than the maximum number of hours that CAP allows for ER/PR  and HER2/neu testing. We are running into this problem since we don't currently work Saturday hours.
Thank you!
Gale Limron CT,HT (ASCP)
Histology Supervisor
Union Hospital
659 Boulevard
Dover, Ohio 44622
330-343-3311 ext 2562



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