Tissue microarray construction from gross specimens: development of a novel simple technique.
BACKGROUND
The tissue microarray (TMA) technique is becoming a useful tool for research and quality control methods in surgical pathology. However, the widespread use of this technique in routine surgical pathology practice, especially in developing nations, is hampered by the high cost of commercially available instruments. The authors describe a novel, inexpensive technique of construction of TMA from gross specimen.


METHODS
The authors used a 16-gauge bone marrow trephine biopsy needle to obtain cores from 150 specimens of breast carcinoma. These cores were processed in the tissue processor as per the routine processing techniques of the department. A recipient block was prepared, followed by drilling of a suitable number of holes. The processed tissue cores were arrayed into the recipient block. These blocks were used for immunohistochemistry and compared with conventional whole tissue sections.


RESULTS
Of the 150 cases, only two showed suboptimal preservation in the TMA block, and this was also reflected in the conventional tissue sections. Immunohistochemical staining for oestrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, Her2.neu and Ki-67 was found to be satisfactory in 148 cases with the staining intensity comparable with that performed on the conventional sections.


CONCLUSIONS
This study describes a satisfactory technique for construction of TMA from a gross tumour specimen. Such a technique is well suited to centres which handle a high number of cases of a particular type, such as breast carcinoma. Further studies on other tumour types would help in validating these results.
Sharma
Santosh Kumar
SK
Department of Pathology, Hindu Rao Hospital, New Delhi, India.
Deka
Lopamudra
L
Gupta
Ruchika
R
Gupta
Shilpa
S
Singh
Deepak Kumar
DK
Singh
Sompal
S
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001707:Biopsy, Needle / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008408:Mastectomy; D008875:Middle Aged; D009339:Needles; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000378:metabolism; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone / Q000378:metabolism; D046888:Tissue Array Analysis / Q000379:methods*
D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone; C508053:ERBB2 protein, human