Tissue block archiving and storage: examples of revolution in practice

As cancer diagnostics and treatment methods improve and the average age of the population increases, so too does the quantity of patient tissue blocks generated year on year. Two critical aspects of the histopathology workflow are the archiving of those patient blocks, and subsequent retrieval for re-work and further testing.

The Royal College of Pathologist’s guidelines stipulate that processed patient blocks must be retained for 30 years. As technologies advance in the 21st century, two major laboratories are now utilising innovative new technology to securely archive and log their patient blocks.

University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, and the University Medical Centre Erasmus, The Netherlands, have discovered the major benefits to workflow, resources and patient security offered by the Thermo Scientific Arcos block archiving system.