title: Academic and nonacademic laboratories perform equally on CIQC immunohistochemistry proficiency testing.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To test whether academic centers (ACs) are more successful than nonacademic centers (NACs) in immunohistochemistry (IHC) external quality assessment challenges in the Canadian Immunohistochemistry Quality Control (CIQC) program.
  
  
  METHODS
  Results of 9 CIQC challenges for breast cancer marker (BM) and various non-breast cancer marker (NBM) tests were examined. Success rates were compared between AC/NAC laboratories and those located in small or large cities. Performance was also correlated with annual IHC case volumes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was no statistically significant difference in performance in any of the comparisons. However, overall performance on BM was significantly better (P < .0001, t test) than on NBM tests regardless of AC/NAC nature or city size. The mean failure rate on NBM was approximately twice that of BM tests.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest that recent emphasis on breast hormone IHC quality assurance has led to improved test quality.
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
authors.forename: Zhongchuan Will
authors.initials: ZW
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Heather
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Neufeld
authors.forename: Maria A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Copete
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Garratt
authors.forename: C Blake
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Gilks
authors.forename: Emina E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Torlakovic
mesh_terms: D000046:Academic Medical Centers; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002170:Canada; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006780:Hospitals, Rural; D006786:Hospitals, Urban; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry / Q000592:standards*; D007753:Laboratories / Q000592:standards*; D059021:Laboratory Proficiency Testing / Q000592:standards*; D016612:Paraffin Embedding; D010336:Pathology / Q000592:standards*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D046888:Tissue Array Analysis; D016526:Workload
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor
keywords: Academic center; External quality assessment; Immunohistochemistry; Proficiency testing