Toward quality assurance for metaphase FISH: A multicenter experience

✍ Scribed by Dewald, Gordon W.; Stallard, Richard; Bader, Patricia I.; Chen, Kathy; Zenger-Hain, Julie; Harris, Catherine J.; Higgins, Rodney; Hirsch, Betsy; Hsu, Wei-Tong; Johnson, Eric; Kubic, Virginia; Kurczynski, T.W.; Malone, James M.; McCorquodale, D. James; Meilinger, Karen; Meisner, Lorraine F.; Moore, J.W.; Schwartz, Stuart; Siembieda, Steven; Storto, Patrick D.; Vance, Gail; Tuinen, Peter Van; Wiktor, Ann; Yung, Jar-Fee

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 742 KB
• Volume: 65
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0148-7299
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1096-8628(19961028)65:3<190::aid-ajmg4>3.0.co;2-u

✦ Synopsis

Although fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) is rapidly becoming a part of clinical cytogenetics, no organization sponsors multicenter determinations of the efficacy of probes. We report on 23 laboratories that volunteered to provide slides and to use a probe for small nuclear ribonucleoprotein polypeptide N (SNRPN) and a control locus. Experiences with FISH for these laboratories during 1994 ranged from 0 to 645 utilizations (median = 84) involving blood, amniotic fluid, and bone marrow. In an initial study of hybridization efficiency, the median percentage of metaphases from normal individuals showing two SNRPN and two control signals for slides prepared at each site was 97.0 (range = 74-100); for slides prepared by a central laboratory, it was 97.8 (range = 81.6-100). In a subsequent blind study, each laboratory attempted to score 5 metaphases from each of 23 specimens [8 with de1(15)(q11.2+q12) and 15 with normal #15 chromosomes]. Of 529 challenges, the correct SNRPN pattern was found in 5 of 5 metaphases in 457 (86%) and in 4 of 5 in 33 (6%). Ambiguous, incomplete, or no results were reported for 32 (6%) challenges. Seven ~~