Other Diagnostic Cytopathology testing

Immunohistochemistry

There are two Immunohistochemistry laboratories that support the Diagnostic Cytopathology services. One is situated on the ground floor of the Clinical Sciences Building at Wythenshawe and the other is within the Adult Histology laboratory, Clinical Sciences Building first floor at Oxford Road.

We currently house automated Ventana BenchMark Ultra staining machines which we use to carry out our routine clinical work. We currently hold a repertoire of over 90 antibodies, listed on our Antibody Repertoire List and are enrolled in the UKNEQAS ICC quality assurance scheme.

Any clinician wishing to request specific immunohistochemistry antibody markers should discuss this with the reporting pathologist. It is not appropriate to contact the laboratory directly to request IHC.

Specialised testing

The laboratory performs the following specialised tests for patients accessing Cytopathology  services at MFT as well as referral tests for hospitals within Greater Manchester and wider regions;

• PD-L1 (lung cancer)
• ALK (lung cancer)

Our full scope of UKAS accredited tests can be found on the UKAS website – accreditation licence number 8648.

Referrals

The laboratory on occasion refers material (paraffin embedded blocks or stained slides) to the Manchester Haematological Cancers Diagnostic Partnership. This is a joint partnership between Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust and the Christie Hospital for confirmation and classification of lymphomas and to the Christie Hospital for opinion and/or confirmation of pathology in a small number of cases.

Material may also be referred to Saint Mary’s Genetics department for Genetic/molecular testing which quotes a 10-day turnaround time for results.  This includes EGFR, BRAF and KRAS.

The department regularly receives requests for expert/second opinion from other hospitals.

A very small number of cases are referred to other Specialist Cytopathologists/Histopathologists for expert second opinion or review and in response to service pressures. The following are the most used:

Manchester Cancer Research Centre Tissue Bank

The Manchester Cancer Research Centre is an initiative to collect and bank tissue samples from cancers to facilitate research.  The project started collecting in April 2008. To contact the team please ring 0161 446 3659.

(Last reviewed February 2025)