[Histonet] Submission of tonsils to Pathology - #2

[Tony Henwood]

I suppose our concern is that theatre staff may inadvertently throw away the wrong specimen (eg diagnostic skin, etc). If they are not given the chance to make a choice then there is no chance of miss-communication. 
Since we are not doing microscopy on these specimens, there is minimal increase in workload. 
The small pots that the tonsils arrive in did not affect our storage capacity. 
So in our situation it was not a big deal to accept these specimens.
But this might not be feasible for all labs.

Regards 
Tony Henwood JP, MSc, BAppSc, GradDipSysAnalys, CT(ASC), FFSc(RCPA) 
Laboratory Manager & Senior Scientist 
Tel: 612 9845 3306 
Fax: 612 9845 3318 
the children's hospital at westmead
Cnr Hawkesbury Road and Hainsworth Street, Westmead
Locked Bag 4001, Westmead NSW 2145, AUSTRALIA 


-----Original Message-----
From: histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu [mailto:histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of Linda Margraf
Sent: Saturday, 4 June 2011 4:08 AM
To: 'Richard Cartun'; Histonet
Subject: RE: [Histonet] Submission of tonsils to Pathology - #2

Richard;
Our children's Hospital (Children's Medical Center Dallas where I am the lab's Medical Director) made tonsils exempt from required pathologic examination 8 or so years ago following approval of the medical and surgical staff.  We now only receive tonsils the surgeons are concerned about (transplant patients, asymmetric lesions etc.).  Our surgical case accession numbers dropped by about 800 as a result of this but we do feel we are doing what's most cost effective yet beneficial to the patient.  We get one or two cases a week now. We have about 15 other items on our list of specimens that are exempt from pathologic review.  It is important to have the pathologists work with the clinicians to generate the list of tissue specimens that don't need to come to pathology.  
Linda M
Histonet administrator	

-----Original Message-----
From: histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu [mailto:histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of Richard Cartun
Sent: Friday, June 03, 2011 11:41 AM
To: Histonet
Subject: [Histonet] Submission of tonsils to Pathology - #2

I apologize; I should have stated my question differently.  Our Children's Hospital wants to stop sending tonsils to Pathology unless the surgeon requests pathological examination.  An article published in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (Nelson et al.) concluded that pathologic examination of tonsils is not a cost-effective use of limited health care resources.  "Zero cases of unsuspected pathology were identified on planned gross specimen evaluation (n=4186) and positive pathologic findings on microscopic analysis (n=1066) were only identified in post-transplant patients."

Have any of you exempted tonsils from submission to Pathology?  If not, maybe we should.

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



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


Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.

This e-mail, facsimile, or letter and any files or attachments transmitted with it contains information that is confidential and privileged. This information is intended only for the use of the individual(s) and entity(ies) to whom it is addressed. If you are the intended recipient, further disclosures are prohibited without proper authorization. If you are not the intended recipient, any disclosure, copying, printing, or use of this information is strictly prohibited and possibly a violation of federal or state law and regulations. If you have received this information in error, please notify Children's Medical Center Dallas immediately at 214-456-4444 or via e-mail at privacy <@t> childrens.com. Children's Medical Center Dallas and its affiliates hereby claim all applicable privileges related to this information.


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

*********************************************************************************
This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you are not the intended recipient, please delete it and notify the sender.

Views expressed in this message and any attachments are those of the individual sender, and are not necessarily the views of The Children's Hospital at Westmead

This note also confirms that this email message has been virus scanned and although no computer viruses were detected, The Childrens Hospital at Westmead accepts no liability for any consequential damage resulting from email containing computer viruses.
*********************************************************************************