In this section
All specimens should be sent to the laboratory in an appropriately labelled specimen pot that is large enough to easily accommodate the specimen. It is unsafe practice to label specimen pots in advance of a procedure.
TopThe following is a list of factors known to significantly affect the performance of examination and interpretation of results:
Should any of these factors affect the issuing of a final report, then an incident may be raised in Ulysses. If a final report is able to be issued, factors that may have affected this result will be included in this report.
TopSpecimens for routine histology are required to be placed into 10% neutral buffered Formalin, which is available on request from the laboratory. Formalin is used to fix the specimen and preserve the tissue in as life-like state as possible. If there is a delay between the removal of the tissue and fixation in Formalin, this can adversely impact the specimen integrity and therefore report.
To ensure proper specimen fixation, the following guidelines should be adhered to:
All specimens in Formalin should be stored at room temperature and not in the fridge prior to transport to the laboratory.
TopAll specimens from patients who are identified as (or are likely to be) in the high risk of infection category must be clearly labelled to ensure the health and safety of all staff. The following are common hazard group 3 pathogens considered high risk (this list is not exhaustive): HIV, AIDS, TB, CJD, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C. Specimens from patients with Covid-19, who are immunosuppressed, drug abusers and other high risk groups are also considered high risk.
Any samples taken where the patient is suspected of having TB MUST be divided within theatre so as to provide sufficient samples for Histology (sent in formalin) and Microbiology (sent in an empty sterile container).
To ensure health and safety of staff, high risk specimens are to be fully fixed before being processed by the laboratory. The date and time that the specimen is taken should be recorded on the request card for all high risk specimens to enable the laboratory to calculate the fixation time on receipt. This information will minimise the infection risk to staff and prevent undue delay to processing.
Frozen sections and immunofluorescence investigations will not be performed on any high risk or potentially high-risk specimen.
TopAll intra-operative frozen sections should be booked with the appropriate laboratory site at least 24 hours in advance, where possible. This is to ensure the availability of the appropriate scientific and consultant staff. Where this is not possible, the laboratory should be contacted at the earliest opportunity when theatre staff are aware a frozen section is required. Every attempt will be made to provide frozen sections during the laboratory opening hours, providing appropriate clinical and technical staff are available.
To book a frozen section please contact:
Frozen sections will not be performed on any high risk or potentially high-risk specimen.
When booking a frozen section, please provide the following information;
The specimen for frozen section should be transported to the laboratory in an appropriately labelled dry specimen container and must arrive before 4.30pm. Formalin must not be added. Specimens should be handed directly to the technical staff at histopathology specimen reception as a matter of urgency to ensure a timely report is issued.
When the specimen is ready to be sent to the laboratory, or if there is a delay in theatre, please contact the relevant site number as above. If a frozen section is no longer required, please contact the laboratory immediately to cancel.
Once taken, the specimens should be delivered to the department fresh (not in formalin) as soon as practically possible, together with a tracking form / book to audit the delivery of the specimen to the department. Oxford Road and Wythenshawe frozen sections requests are delivered directly to the Histopathology department at the same site: specimens taken at Tameside are taken directly to the Tameside Pathology laboratory. Delay in delivery of the specimen will delay the issuing of the frozen section report.
If the frozen section service is no longer required, please ring the laboratory as soon as possible to notify us of the cancellation.
A preliminary report will be issued stating the diagnosis obtained from the frozen section. To ensure a timely report is available, please provide contact details of where this report should be issued. A full report will follow once the tissue has been formalin fixed and paraffin sections examined by a Pathologist.
TopAll renal, skin, oral and conjunctiva specimens that require immunofluorescence investigation should be placed into Zeus transport medium or Michel’s medium. These specimens should not be placed into Formalin as this technique cannot be performed on fixed tissue. Zeus transport medium is available on request from our specimen reception.
All Zeus pots should be labelled with the appropriate patient information as detailed in our specimen acceptance policy. Immunofluorescence will not be performed on high risk or potentially high risk specimens due to the health and safety risk it poses to staff.
Skin biopsies requiring immunofluorescence need two samples to be taken from the same area. One is to be placed in formalin; the other for immunofluorescence should be placed in Mikel’s medium which is obtainable from the Histopathology Department at Salford Royal Hospital. Specimens should be sent to Wythenshawe hospital histopathology; to be tracked then booked onto the laboratory information management system and then packaged by laboratory staff for hospital transport to Salford Royal hospital. Reports are returned to Wythenshawe histopathology, where they are then uploaded onto the laboratory information system.
The Oral Pathology Department at Oxford Road Campus has special gel tubes to preserve the specimens. Please contact them for advice on how to source the relevant specimen containers and any instructions that need to be adhered to for taking the specimen.
Specimens should be sent to Wythenshawe hospital histopathology in the gel tubes; these will be tracked then booked onto the laboratory information management system and then packaged by laboratory staff for hospital transport to Oxford Road Campus. Reports will be entered and released by Oxford Road and will either be available via the patient chart on HIVE or printed and issued to the appropriate location.
If the specimen taken is larger than the containers in use, then please contact the histopathology department at Oxford Road Campus for further advice.
TopAll renal biopsies should be transported to the laboratory immediately to enable urgent processing of the specimen. All specimens placed into Zeus for immunofluorescence should be left at room temperature prior to arrival in histology. Samples in other transport mediums such as Michel’s medium or gel transport medium should be stored in the fridge especially if immediate transport to the laboratory in unavailable.
Where possible, two cores of native renal tissue should be obtained to enable investigation into native renal disease. A good quality core of renal tissue is required for routine histology investigations and should be placed in an appropriately labelled container of 10% Formalin. The second core should be placed into l transport medium for immunofluorescence medium, however if there is any uncertainty regarding the adequacy of the sample then both cores should be placed in Formalin.
Patients who have had their transplant for less than 3 months:
Patients who have had their transplant for more than 3 months:
The emergency gynaecology unit is based at Wythenshawe. However, pregnancy remains for Adult Histology will be accepted from MFT patients admitted to St Mary’s and triaged as appropriate. It is important to ensure that the request form and PS1 form is completed fully to prevent undue delay and distress to the patient following the loss of a pregnancy. If documentation is incomplete, it may be necessary for the sender to contact the patient to confirm details.
Pregnancy remains from Tameside locations are also accepted at Wythenshawe. Specimens for cytogenetics should NOT be sent to cellular pathology from any site.These should be sent directly to cytgenetics.
Manchester Centre for Genomic Medicine
6th Floor
St Mary’s Hospital
Oxford Road
Manchester
M13 9WL
Telephone: 0161 276 6506
Requests for Post Mortems (PM) on pregnancy remains that are over 12 weeks gestation should be sent to Paediatric Mortuary with consent and clinical history. All pregnancy remains sent to Adult Histopathology must have an accompanying fully completed PS1 form.
TopThese should be delivered to the Histology department at Oxford Road as soon as possible so that preparation of the samples can be undertaken. It is appreciated that reports are wanted on these specimens in a timely fashion for MDT discussion.
Ensure 10% Neutral Buffered Formalin Histology Pot is labelled with the patient’s details before the procedure (you can use HIVE generated labels but ensure sample is only transferred when pot is correctly labelled).
TopPlease notify the laboratory of all limb amputations at the earliest opportunity on:
Amputated limbs for disposal at Wythenshawe should not be sent to either the Mortuary or Histopathology for disposal. Should any limbs be received for disposal, the requesting theatre will be contacted and arrangements made for the limb to be returned immediately
TopAll Histology HCD samples should be fixed in 10% buffered formalin and labelled clearly with the correct patient identifiers in accordance with the departments acceptance policy.
The request should be entered onto the HOD system and allocated a unique HODS number at the clinic where the specimen has been taken.
These must be sent directly to Central Specimen Reception (CSR) on the ground floor of the Clinical Sciences Building, ORC.
TopOphthalmic pathology forms part of Adult Histopathology and provides a diagnostic service in Ophthalmic Histopathology and Cytopathology. It is one of four laboratories within England making up the National Specialist Ophthalmic Pathology Service (NSOPS).
The laboratory aims to provide a high quality and timely service with provision of expertise in diagnosis using an appropriate range of techniques including histology, cytology, immunofluorescence, immunohistochemistry, and electron microscopy. Specimen requirements differ depending on the investigations required.
More information can be found in the Ophthalmic Histopathology user guide.
TopResearch and Innovation at MFT offers a biobank and cellular pathology research service. The biobank and research teams provide a high quality and not-for-profit sourcing, storage, preparation and analysis of human biological samples service. We support clinical trials and research projects led by the NHS, universities and commercial partners. As part of the NHS, the biobank and research teams aim to improve people’s health by providing a valuable resource to researchers wanting to understand the development and genetic links of disease.
The biobank offer the following services:
Cellular pathology research offers the following services:
All biobank and research requests require a formal application. For more information please contact the relevant department.
| Biobank | 0161 701 1890 |
| Histology Research | 0161 276 8814 |
The Adult Immunohistochemistry Laboratory are found at both sites. At ORC this is situated on the ground floor of the Cadet building, in clinical sciences. At Wythenshawe it is located on the ground floor of the clinical sciences building. IHC service provides IHC testing for both our ISO accredited histology and cytopathology services. We currently house eight automated Ventana BenchMark Ultra Plus staining machines and one automated Ventana Benchmark Ultra staining machine which we use to carry out our routine clinical work. We currently hold a repertoire of over 150 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.
The laboratory is the regional referral centre for Diagnostic Mismatch Repair (MMR) testing, working alongside the genetics department in St Mary’s Hospital for genetic testing referrals. Requests should be directed to the IHC laboratory. Clinical trial material requests and research projects are also processed in the department.
TopThe Cellular Pathology Electron Microscopy (EM) Service is situated on the Ground Floor of Clinical Sciences Building 1 at Manchester Royal Infirmary. It provides a high quality adult and paediatric diagnostic transmission electron microscopy service for MFT and for several external Trusts nationwide. The unit is open and staffed from 08:00 – 17:15 Monday to Friday (except bank holidays).
Approximately 90% of the samples handled are renal. Electron microscopy is routinely carried out on both native renal biopsies and longstanding renal transplant biopsies. For all other specimen types, electron microscopy will be undertaken at the specific request of the reporting Consultant Histopathologist. If the user would specifically like to request electron microscopy on a specimen, an appropriate Consultant Histopathologist must be contacted prior to biopsy. For any other information please contact the Lead Biomedical Scientist for Electron Microscopy on 0161 701 0795 or 0161 276 8806.
Current or prospective service users external to the Trust can find more information in the Cellular Pathology Electron Microscopy User Guide for External Service Users.
TopThe department regularly receives requests for expert/second opinion from other hospitals. Similarly, the department also refers cases to other services for expert opinion, diagnostic services and in response to service pressures. The following are the most commonly used.
| Type | Address | ||
| Lymphomas | Via the HCD partnership with The Christie. | ||
| Reporting/Vacancy cover |
Source LDPath 1st Floor, Cornwell House 21 Clerkenwell Green London EC1R 0DX
Source BioScience
|
||
| Reporting/Vacancy cover |
Diagnexia Exeter Science Park Centre, |
||
| Laboratory services |
Cellular Pathology Services Orbital 25 Business Park Dwight Road Watford WD18 9DA |
||
| Genetics |
Manchester Centre for Genetic Medicine 6th Floor, St Mary’s Hospital, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9WL |
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 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 St. 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 Histopathologists for expert second opinion or review and in response to service pressures. The following are the most used:
| Type | Address |
| Lymphomas | Via the HCD partnership with The Christie. |
| Reporting/Vacancy cover |
Source Bioscience, 1 Orchard Place, Business Park, Nottingham, NG8 6PX |
| Reporting/Vacancy cover | Diagnexia, Science Park Centre, 6 Babbage Way, Exeter Science Park, Clyst Honiton, Exeter, EX5 2FN |
| Preparation of samples | Cellular Pathology Services, Unit 12, Orbital 25 Business Park, Dwight Road, Watford, WD18 9DA |
| Genetics |
Manchester Centre for Genetic Medicine 6th Floor, St Mary’s Hospital, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9WL |
On occasion, patients may request the return of tissues following a surgical procedure. This could be for various reasons such as cultural or religious and patients have a right to have their tissues returned to them. Any request for the retention of specimens should be referred to a Histopathologist and the Laboratory Manager (or deputy) within Histopathology at Oxford Road (for Oxford Road samples) and Wythenshawe hospital (for Wythenshawe samples).
Specimens are not permitted to be sent to histology for disposal purpose. We provide a diagnostic service, not a disposal service. Any specimens received where disposal is indicated will be processed and a report issued. Pregnancy remain (POC) specimens may be disposed of without histological examination if indicated by the patient on the PS1 form. If so, the specimen should be sent directly to the Mortuary for disposal to be arranged as per the patient’s wishes.
Top(Last reviewed August 2025)