Solving legacy problems with tissue sample management in the AP lab

Course overview

In the US alone, more than 300,000 patient samples are lost each year. Histology labs today can benefit significantly from improvements in tracking and monitoring patient samples from receipt through diagnosis. While samples can be misplaced in several areas of the lab, there are three key points in the histology lab workflow that represent the greatest risk: (1) pre and post processing, (2) block sorting archival and retrieval, and (3) slide sorting, archival and retrieval. Technology advancements can now reduce, even eliminate, the potential for samples to be lost at these three points in the histology workflow, providing labs with true sample chain-of-custody to reduce errors, increase productivity, mitigate risk, and more effectively utilize already scarce labor to keep lab professionals focused on patient care. Further, as personalized healthcare (PHC) advances, the need to quickly and accurately retrieve patient samples for advanced testing also grows. This places an extra burden on already limited lab staff while contributing to longer timelines for case completion, patient diagnosis and execution of treatment plans.