Quality Control for Storage and Transportation of Breast Cancer Samples for The Assessment of Their Estrogen Receptor Content

Summary

In Belgium, estrogen receptor (ER) assays are run in a limited number of laboratories. This implies the organization of storage facilities and transportation of the breast cancer specimens from district hospitals to specialized laboratories. A quality control check was carried out under the auspices of our Institute to define appropriate conditions. ER concentrations were measured in our laboratory in 441 samples from our Institute as well as from 10 district hospitals. Analysis of the data revealed that the distribution of ER concentrations differed between hospitals. Moreover, tumors sent in liquid nitrogen constituted a homogenous group while tumors sent in ice-cold saline constituted a heterogenous group. On the average, tumors in liquid nitrogen also contained higher amounts of receptors. Review of the clinical records did not reveal any explanations for these observations, thus strongly suggesting that transport conditions were at their origin. Storage and subsequent transportation in liquid nitrogen was therefore recommended to reduce the difference between hospitals.