[Histonet] Expired antibodies...for immunos..

[Rene J Buesa]

Hi all:
  I want to jump into this thread that has already been a subject of discussion on November of last year.
   
  1- I had never this expriration problem because our IHC volume was large, but is is something a great concern to small laboratories, some of which have opted not to do IHC and send it to a reference lab.
   
  2- The experiration date is set by the manufacturer, but no manufacturer says which studies are behing their dating system.
   
  3- CAP has now stablished a rigid rule about not allowing "expired" Abs to be used BUT the same CAP in thei Laboratory Improvement Programs published in 1998 the following:
  Tubbs et al. (1998): "Extension of Useful Reagent Shelf Life Beyond Manufacturer's Recommendations" Arch Pathol Lab Med. 122: 1051-52 and concluded: "The data suggest review of the Health Care Financing Administration's ruling on extending the useful reagent shelf life beyond manufacturers recommendations. Similar studies using more inherently quantitative methodology are suggested" (sic.)
   
  4- The next year Balaton et al. published a paper under the title of:
  "Satisfactory performance of primary antibodies beyond manufacturers' recommended expiration dates" Applied Immunohistochemistry & Molecular Morphology 7(3):221-25
  They tested 65 antibodies that had expired 6 to 134 months previously (average of 33 months) and concluded that"....These results indicate that primary antibodies have a shelf life significantly longer than the one specified by the manufacturers...."(sic.).
   
  5- It is worth noting that both papers stress the fact that those expiration dates are manufacturers' recommendations, they are not written on stone. The one now doing the writing on stone is CAP after sponsoring a contradictory study.
   
  So, when you decide to flame Joe Nocito, please leave a space for me. Joe's suggestion seems to be very reasonable.
  Another thing, please use cajun sauce for my roasting.
  Best wishes
  René J.

Dana Settembre <settembr <@t> umdnj.edu> wrote:
  Hello Kat,

JCAHO does not allow anything expired to be used for patients
Antibodies cannot be used either, if they are expired.

Dana Settembre
University Hospital-UMDNJ
Newark, NJ

>>> 04/27/06 3:23 PM >>>
How does JCAHO handle expired antibodies if you have them...and are
using 
them...
Is it ok ....or not??
Kat
_______________________________________________
Histonet mailing list
Histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu 
http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet

_______________________________________________
Histonet mailing list
Histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet




		
---------------------------------
Get amazing travel prices for air and hotel in one click on Yahoo! FareChase