Tissue microarray design and construction for scientific, industrial and diagnostic use.
BACKGROUND
In 2013 the high throughput technology known as Tissue Micro Array (TMA) will be fifteen years old. Its elements (design, construction and analysis) are intuitive and the core histopathology technique is unsophisticated, which may be a reason why has eluded a rigorous scientific scrutiny. The source of errors, particularly in specimen identification and how to control for it is unreported. Formal validation of the accuracy of segmenting (also known as de-arraying) hundreds of samples, pairing with the sample data is lacking.


OBJECTIVE
We wanted to address these issues in order to bring the technique to recognized standards of quality in TMA use for research, diagnostics and industrial purposes.


RESULTS
We systematically addressed the sources of error and used barcode-driven data input throughout the whole process including matching the design with a TMA virtual image and segmenting that image back to individual cases, together with the associated data. In addition we demonstrate on mathematical grounds that a TMA design, when superimposed onto the corresponding whole slide image, validates on each and every sample the correspondence between the image and patient's data.


CONCLUSIONS
High throughput use of the TMA technology is a safe and efficient method for research, diagnosis and industrial use if all sources of errors are identified and addressed.
Department of Pathology, San Gerardo Hospital, Via Pergolesi 33, 20900, Monza, Italy.
Daniela
D
Pilla
Francesca M
FM
Bosisio
Roberto
R
Marotta
Stefano
S
Faggi
Paolo
P
Forlani
Maurizio
M
Falavigna
Ida
I
Biunno
Emanuele
E
Martella
Pasquale
P
De Blasio
Simone
S
Borghesi
Giorgio
G
Cattoretti
Diagnostic; pathology; tissue micro array; tissue microarray; virtual slide; whole slide image