[Histonet] Histonet Digest, Vol 167, Issue 12

[Haley Huggins]

My suggestion for using the Dako IHC manual is not necessarily just about
the automated application, but about the antibodies themselves and what the
end results are supposed to be. It isn't the only thing you should use to
prepare for the QIHC exam, but if you want to learn about a large amount
of antibodies and what they target, the Dako IHC manual is the book of
choice. I have a friend that took the exam a few years back and that was
her suggestion as well. Yes you should know about the different platforms,
but the use of the antibodies in IHC staining will still be used to get the
targeted results provided in the Dako manual. The other platform manuals do
not provide the same detailed descriptions of the antibodies and their
purposes as the Dako manual does. In my lab, we run our IHC by hand, so I
don't use any of the automated platforms that are available today, but
luckily I know how to use most if not all of them from previous employment.
Pull from your experiences with IHC, read up from all the platforms, use
the Dako manual as a guide for a large variety of the antibodies, and check
out the study guide from Michigan Society of HIstotechnology. If you are
lucky attend a seminar on preparing for the exam. I have taken a couple of
them, they can be helpful.

Haley

*Haley Huggins, HT (ASCP)cm*
*Technical Lab Supervisor*
*1050 Las Tablas Rd, Suite 14*
*Templeton, CA 93465*
*Office: 877-230-1518*

On Tue, Oct 17, 2017 at 3:00 PM, Sally Price via Histonet <
histonet at lists.utsouthwestern.edu> wrote:

> All:
> I beg to differ with what seems to be the general consensus, but the Dako
> handbook is not really representative of the available technology within
> the IHC field and shouldn't be thought of as a prescription for
> success.  All the Dako book addresses is Dako's methods, reagents and
> instruments, which is pretty biased.  In order to properly prepare for the
> ASCPs exam, one needs to think beyond reagents and automated systems and
> REALLY understand the underlying science.  I've attended a number of
> seminars on this subject and learned that, especially because of recent
> changes to this test, one also needs to understand the clinical application
> of these procedures.  More and more we're called upon to provide
> pathologists with support in the way of procedure validation and
> troubleshooting and we need to learn a great deal more than can be learned
> from reading one vendor's publication.
> +Sally
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