The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the College of American Pathologists (CAP) guidelines require several components in the patient report.
The type of fixative used, the time out of the body to fixation, and the duration of fixation are essential information for the report. The time out of the body to fixation may not be known, but the histology department can ascertain the duration of fixation.
The methodology used for the assay should be recorded in the report, including:
- The probe identification and the number of observers
- The number of cells counted
- The average number of her2/neu signals per cell
- The average number of centromere 17 signals per cell
For some FISH assays, the ratio is generally given as the number of genes of interest/number of centromeres. For example:
- The ratio of HER2/neu/centromere 17 = 6/2 = 3.0
It is helpful to include the gene's average signal number and the centromere's average signal number. The report must also interpret the predominant FISH pattern observed. In our example, the HER2/neu gene is amplified.
The institution requires other components of a standard anatomic pathology report. It is helpful to include the surgical pathology accession number and the type and description of tissue assayed.
