Here in Huntingdon, we pretty much do Immuno on demand depending on the
urgency of the case.
We have a Dako Autostainer and quite often turn around immuno requests
within the same working day. i.e. a request comes in before 11 a.m. and the
completed slides are on the Pathologists desk by 4 p.m.
However, we mostly cut one day stain the next or if the workload is high
then we will run the machine overnight so that the completed stains are
ready and waiting for us when we come in the following morning.
In the UK we have what are called Multi-Disciplinary Team meetings
(MDTs) and these are scheduled for certain times of the week where
Pathologists and clinicians get together to discuss cases and slides are
shown. This quite often requires us to have a rapid turnaround of immuno
requests especially if there is only a short time lag between the biopsy
being taken and it being discussed at the MDT.
In the case of Breast biopsies, this sometimes be as little as 2 days,
hence we need to complete Estrogen receptor staining very quickly.
I think that answers questions 1 and 2. As for the other questions.
3. It varies enormously from none to 100
4. All pressure cooker.
5. Don't know, never used either.
6. All HIER is done for 2 minutes at 15 psi
7. All urgent biopsies by 10 a.m., Trucut biopsies from 11 a.m. the rest as
and when. As for numbers, well we send all completed cases as they pass QC,
so it's a drip feed process rather than a batch of slides all at the same
time.

Hope this info is of some use.

Nick Kirk
Histopathology
Hinchingbrooke Hospital
Huntingdon
England



>  from:    ian clarke 
>  date:    Wed, 13 Aug 2003 03:31:25
>  to:      HistoNet@pathology.swmed.edu
>  subject: Re Turnaround times
>
> Dear All
> Thanks for all the information on the trimming around the edges of the
> tissue cassette.I have been asked to gather some information about
> turnaround times for Immunohistochemistry.At present in our laboratory we
> cut the sections one day leave overnight in an oven at 55c and then they are
> put onto the Ventana Nexes for staining the next morning 24 hour lag.We
> mainly do microwave HEIR
>
> 1 Does your pathologist receive their immuno the same day it is requested?
> 2  If so what time  is your cut off for receiving immuno requests from the
> pathologist?
> 3 How many immuno slides would you stain/day?
> 4 Is your HEIR mostly Pressure cooker or Microwave?
> 5  Is there any difference in time scale between a Ventana Nexes and
> Benchmark ( for us it would mean we would not have the 24 hours overnight in
> the oven/and no microwave HEIR.)
> 6 What are the minimum and maximum times for your HEIR
>
> 7 On a side issue what time would first H&E biopsies/cases be going to the
> pathologist?( how many cases)
> Thanks again
> Ian Clarke
> CAH
>
>
>