<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Re: [Histonet] IHC QC's</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS">There was in fact, a post from Nick Kirk on running a positive control with each case. I do realize the CAP requirements and am familiar with the checklist. <BR>
<BR>
Patti Loykasek<BR>
Phenopath Laboratories<BR>
Seattle, WA<BR>
</FONT><BLOCKQUOTE><FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS"><FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><BR>
<BR>
I don't think anyone said a POSTIVE control should be run with each slide. We were talking about negative controls, I believe.<BR>
I just copied and pasted from the latest CAP survey in another email.<BR>
</FONT></FONT><FONT FACE="Verdana"> <BR>
<BR>
<FONT SIZE="2">Hazel Horn, HT/HTL (ASCP)<BR>
Histology Supervisor<BR>
Arkansas Children's Hospital<BR>
<BR>
Phone - 501.364.4240<BR>
Fax - 501.364.3912 <BR>
</FONT></FONT><BLOCKQUOTE><FONT FACE="Verdana"><BR>
</FONT><FONT SIZE="2"><FONT FACE="Tahoma">-----Original Message-----<BR>
<B>From:</B> Patti Loykasek [mailto:ploykasek@phenopath.com] <BR>
<B>Sent:</B> Monday, October 13, 2003 10:52 AM<BR>
<B>To:</B> histonet<BR>
<B>Subject:</B> [Histonet] IHC QC's<BR>
<BR>
</FONT></FONT><FONT FACE="Verdana">I'm glad that everyone is so concerned with both negative and positive IHC controls. There is certainly more than one side to this issue. I will say that I don't think a positive QC on every slide is absolutely necessary, for many reasons. If the QC is rare & precious, then it is a waste of resources. As is running a negative control for every possible technique permutation on small amounts of tumor. I would rather have slides with tumor left for additional studies than have wasted tumor sections on 4-6 negative controls. You can always evaluate non-specific staining on slides that have had an antibody applied & that are negative with that antibody. The CAP is specific that positive controls be used for each antibody - see CAP checklist ANP.22550. They do not specify for each slide. Since positive QC's should be kept filed for the same number of years as the patient slide & records, it should be possible to pull a QC slide from the IHC run for a particular slide. In the CAP comment on ANP.22550, the use of internal QC's is also mentioned. Although there are many ways of dealing with the issue of QC's, I'm sure we all want to do what is prudent, abide by the regulations, and increase the level of patient care. <BR>
Just my 2 cents worth. <BR>
<BR>
Patti Loykasek<BR>
Phenopath Laboratories<BR>
Seattle, WA <BR>
</FONT></BLOCKQUOTE><FONT FACE="Verdana"><HR ALIGN=CENTER SIZE="3" WIDTH="100%">The information contained in this message may be privileged and confidential and protected from disclosure. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, or an employee or agent responsible for delivering this message to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by replying to the message and deleting it from your computer. Thank you. Arkansas Children's Hospital <BR>
<BR>
</FONT></BLOCKQUOTE><FONT FACE="Verdana"><BR>
</FONT>
</BODY>
</HTML>