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ABSTRACT: We examined the results of the low-volume-laboratory proficiency testing program for new physician office participants in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Serum glucose, hemoglobin, urinalysis, throat culture, urine culture, and Gram's stain were included in the study. Quarterly error rates for each analyte were determined; between one fourth and all of the laboratories that made at least one error during the first two quarters of proficiency testing made at least one more error in the same analyte during the subsequent two quarters. We show that participation in the quarterly proficiency testing program for a 12-to 15-month period did not lead to a measurable increase in performance. For proficiency testing to be effective, we suggest that it be supplemented by additional methods to lower error rates, such as regulation or intensive consultation and training services for personnel of physicians' office laboratories.

The human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) is an important target for treatment of gastroesophageal cancer. Different slide-based assays are available for assessment of HER2 status. Overexpression of the HER2 protein is assessed by immunohistochemistry (IHC) whereas amplification of the HER2 gene is assessed by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) or other in situ hybridization (ISH) methods. Here we report a summary of the validation data on HER2 IQFISH pharmDx™ (Dako Omnis), a newly developed assay for the automated staining platform Dako Omnis. This assay uses a non-toxic buffer that significantly reduces the hybridization time, which results in a total turnaround time of less than 4 hours from deparaffinization to counting of the gene and centromere signals. The data reported in the current summary cover method comparison, assessment of staining quality, observer-to-observer reproducibility as well as reproducibility within and between laboratories. Based on data from the different studies it was concluded that HER2 IQFISH pharmDx (Dako Omnis) is a reliable and robust assay, with high precision and at least comparable to the manual HER2 IQFISH pharmDx™ assay. The HER2 IQFISH pharmDx (Dako Omnis) assay is currently not commercially available outside the Europe Union.

In breast cancer the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) is an important target for a number of different HER2 inhibitors. Different slide-based assays are available for assessment of treatment eligibility, which include fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) or other in situ hybridization (ISH) methods for assessment of the HER2 gene status. Here we report a summary of the validation data on HER2 IQFISH pharmDx™ (Dako Omnis), a newly developed assay for the automated staining platform Dako Omnis. The assay uses a non-toxic buffer that significantly reduces the hybridization time, which results in a total turnaround time of 3½ to 4h from deparaffinization to counting of the gene and centromere signals. The data reported in the current summary covers method comparison, assessment of staining quality, observer-to-observer reproducibility as well as reproducibility within and between laboratories. Based on data from the different studies it was concluded that HER2 IQFISH pharmDx (Dako Omnis) is a reliable and robust assay with a high precision that is at least comparable to the manual HER2 IQFISH pharmDx™ assay and the PathVysion(®)HER-2 DNA Probe Kit., (Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier GmbH.. All rights reserved.)