Re: Who does IHC

From:Tom Wells

We originally had IHC as a general rotation bench. There was no Technologist
specifically in charge of the bench.  There was no pathologist who had a
special interest in IHC. As a result , our results were extremely variable.
It also was very difficult to respond to a problem.  There was no
coordinated troubleshooting.

Now, for the past few years I have been incharge of the area and I have one
assitant. We both do the routine staining, but I am responsible for all the
troubleshooting plus any research and development.  The other Technologists
do not rotate throught IHC. We have a single Pathologist who is
"responsible" for the area. He screens the results with either myself or my
assistant every day before we hand in the stained slides. I find this to be
a very useful excercise both for quality assurance as well as a tremendous
educational oportunity. Troubleshooting is coordinated between the
Pathologist who is in charge and myself. We are extremely lucky because He
is also very knowledgeable about the technical aspects of IHC and has been
involved for many years.

Our results are now consistantly of a high standard. The big advantage is
that we can respond to any problems quickly. Also the level of communication
is high given the small number of people involved. While I believe that most
people could learn the basic Immunohistochemical technique give the
interest. I do not believe that it is possible to maintain IHC at a high
standard as a general rotation bench.

Tom Wells, BSc, ART
Supervisor, Immunohistochemistry
Lions Gate Hospital
North Vancouver, BC, Canada








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