6th ESACP Congress, Heidelberg, April 7-11, 1999

A060
QUALITY CONTROL AND QUALITY ASSURANCE PROTOCOLS FOR DNA IMAGE CYTOMETRY
Giroud F 1, Haroske G 2

1) Equipe RFMQ/TIMC, Université Joseph Fourier, Grenoble, France, 2) Institute of Pathology, Dresden University of Technology, Dresden, Germany

The ESACP task force consensus document in DNA image cytometry originally ratified in Grenoble-France on May 17th 1994 and updated in Oslo-Norway on May 27th 1997, is actually in press in the ACP journal. The consensus is open for forum discussion through the ESACP server for further development. The QC events will be introduced sequentially and illustrated by data obtained from partners in the PRESS project and users of EUROQUANT server. A simulation of various situations will be presented. Briefly, the QC procedure includes six tests: 1) QC for ICM-DNA protocol, 2) QC for preparation stability, 3) QC for corrective factor, 4) QC for diagnostic DNA interpretation, 5) QC for IOD measurements and 6) QC for ICM instrumentation. At the starting point, a new user, is invited to run the QC for ICM-DNA protocol. Depending on the positive or negative issue of this first test, the user will be invited either to run clinical cases or to check his protocol. Checking his protocol needs two successive steps: QC for IOD measurements and QC for ICM instrumentation. Those ones should help the user to solve the methodological problems encountered when running his laboratory protocol: fixation, staining, image analysis procedure. As soon as the QC for ICM-DNA protocol leads to a positive issue, the user is invited to run clinical samples associated to their respective external and internal references appropriate for evaluation of both stability of protocol (QC for preparation stability) and data calibration (QC for corrective factor). Finally QC for diagnostic DNA interpretation is required.