Tissues are processed from
the point of fixation in paraformaldehyde
until clearing in xylene by a standardized
autoprocessor program. Highly-qualified paraffin-embedded
blocks are sectioned off by a disposable blade
in a microtome. The pathologist differentiates
between cancer and pathologic regions in H&E
stained slides. Precise input of the exact
coordinates into a computer program allows a newly made array block
to be constituted by delicately arranging
tissue cores. The final QC step is completed
by the same pathologists who initially prepared
the TMA.
We have analyzed and addressed
nearly every issue related to current TMA
slide needs: large numbers of tissues of various
types; pathologic tissue alongside of its
cancer matching pair from the the same organ;
stubborn adherence of tissues to withstand
the strain of the staining procedure; regular
and precise arrangement of section spots; detailed pathological
attached not only
to the diseased but also the cancer tissues.
And all this at a very reasonable price!
A small tissue core may
result in an insufficient number of cells
and tissue loss can often occur. To overcome
these limitations, as many tissue cores of
appropriate size are inserted in a duplicate/triplicate
manner as possible under optimal conditions.
The patient's personal
information is kept strictly confidential,
but age, sex and diagnosis will be included
as a matter of course. We provide a detailed
clinical history of each tissue section so
that each slide can also be used for scientific
research related to the clinical area.
