Because the meeting was held at lunch time (a time change from previous years) 12:00pm-12:45pm Saturday, September 13, 2008 we did not have nearly as many people attend as have in the past years.  We usually fill a large room (100+) and this year we only had about 20 people attend our committee meeting.  I guess we did not do a good enough job getting the word out about the lunch time meeting instead of 5:00 PM in the past.  Some had not yet arrived to the S/C.

 

A report on last years first all day IHC Forum and the continuation of it this year.

The first ever IHC Forum last year in Denver was very well received.  We got tremendous reviews and the only request was to have more research in the future.  Another IHC Forum will be presented this year.

 

Tips from the IHCRG webmaster on making our website and list server work best for you.

Our list server and website are working really well.  We have over 500 from all over the world in our group sharing their expertise in IHC.  Our list server is not as busy as histonet and focuses just on IHC/ISH issues.  I would not start a new protocol or try a new product without consulting the IHCRG list server.  Our past posts are archived.  Members are given a user name and pw to access the IHCRG website.  You will get the posts from the list server unless you tell us you want to opt out.

 

CAP regulations for Her2neu testing, how are the new regulations working in practice?

There are still concerns about the 6-48 hour fixation time recommendations.  Some would like to extend the 48 hour limit for weekends and holiday schedules. As it is, tissues fixed outside those limits must then defer to FISH.  In Canada, they have 8-72 hour fixation limits, but include a statement that “fixation longer than 72 hours does not exclude from testing”.  From a good source:  “Dr. Hammond didn't promise that they will raise the upper limit to 72 hours. But I think they're loosening up”..

 

Control tissue and expired or unused reagent banks.

We continue to maintain a tissue bank of IHC control tissues.  Ethel Macrea dawnbrok@earthlink.net  in Tucson and Patsy pruegg@ihctech.net  in Colorado.  When tissues are requested from group members and we do not have them, we put the word out on our list server and often fill the needs.  The bank can use tissues from any and all tumors, plus micro organisms.  If you have any thing to share with the group please contact Patsy or Ethel.  Patsy has been collecting expired and unused reagents for some time now.  These reagents can be checked out for research, teaching or testing.  Ginger Vontell has offered to help organize and catalog these reagents so that Patsy can post what is on the list to our website.

 

QIHC all computer exam update.

The all written exam for the QIHC began in 2005.  Before that it was an all practical exam.                 

From Vinnie:

I promised to provide the pass rates for the QIHC exam. Note that the on line exam began in 2005. the NSH representative to the Board of Registry is obtaining the 2007 data which I will forward when I have it in hand.

 

2002    36%

2003    87%

2004    90%

2005*   77%

2006    61%

Note that the pass rates have dropped since 2005.

 

Training opportunities in IHC

I would like to announce the third annual international course on applied IHC and molecular morphology. This 5-day course will be held the week of January 26, 2009 in this beautiful resort in the Florida keys (http://www.hawkscay.com). In addition to Dr. Juan Rosai, we have yet another impressive group of speakers, including:

Dr. Richard Cartun
Dr. David Dabbs
Dr. Michael Deavers
Dr. Richard Eisen
Dr. Cyril Fisher
Brian Hewlett
Dr. David Hicks
Dr. Savitri Krishnamurthy
Dr. Paul Swanson
Dr. Clive Taylor
Dr. Raymond Tubbs
Dr. Mogens Vyberg
Myself

Please visit the course's website at http://www.pathlearning.com for more information and to download the brochure athttp://www.pathlearning.com/pdf/09_Course_brochure.pdf

Participants of the last two courses have thoroughly enjoyed the learning experience. In addition to the superb list of lectures, there will be several video microscopy sessions covering many practical aspects of applied IHC, in addition to discussions of unknown cases that are scanned online and are available to our participants to view via the digital pathology server in our laboratory.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Warmest regards,

Hadi

Hadi Yaziji, M.D.
Medical Director, Vitro Molecular Laboratories
7000 SW 62nd Avenue, Suite PHC
Miami, FL 33143
www.vitromolecular.com
305.740.4440

 

Bryan Hewlett and I will be posting the pictures we posted in Denver with controlled fixation times and then IHC staining again as a guessing game.  Come to the IHCRG committee table and try your hand at guessing which tissue was fixed for what time.  We will try to give out some prizes to winners of the game.

We did post the game and although the committee tables were spread out and it seemed we did not get as much traffic as usual, we had over 50 people play our fixation game.  We got some great prizes to give out from (thank You vendors)  Ventana, Leica, BioCare, Celerus, and Dako.  We announced winners at the end of the IHC Forum and then I announced them again at the membership meeting.

 

The president of NSH asked each committee to establish four goals:

 

Immediate goal – (within 3 months)

Our immediate goal is to update the IHCRG website and catalog all the reagents and control tissues on hand and post the list to our website. 

We also want to identify future leaders of the IHCRG committee, name for NSH, and mentor them to take over as chair.

Identify those willing to work towards establishing criteria for workload standards in IHC.  George Hoernig has agreed to head this task.  Gina Sennello suggested we look for a student in a masters program for Health Management to help with this.

Plan for next years S/C to include another IHC Forum?

Disseminate opportunities for training in IHC.

Continue to maintain the IHCRG website and list server.

 

1 year – by 2009 S/C

Continue to identify future leaders of the IHCRG committee, name for NSH, and mentor them to take over as chair.

Continue to catalog all the reagents and control tissues on hand and post the list to our website.

Have developed, disseminated, and evaluated surveys that will provide the statistics for workload standards in IHC. 

We should also think about competency testing in IHC and try to develop some criteria for that.

 

3 year – by 2011 S/C

Continue with all the above for 6 mos. and 1 year.

Publish the results of the IHC workload surveys, and recommendations for competency testing in IHC.

 

5 years – by 2013 S/C

Continue to maintain the IHCRG website and list server and to do all the tasks listed above.

Update the IHC workload surveys, and recommendations for competency testing in IHC.

 

New business:

 

What is everyone doing about ISH Probes decocktailing and FDA approval reagents not being on the market?

Sara Williams and George Hoernig said they would research this on the web and get back to us with info.

 

Sara wanted us to contact the other members of our group, not present (you all) and ask them where they would like to see this committee go (future plans, direction, etc.). I am asking you now, what directions do you want to see this committee take?

 

Best regards,

 

Patsy Ruegg

Chair, IHCRG