New protocol for pathological diagnosis and treatment pathway based on the “BIOCO” collector tool in Henan Cancer Hospital

Background. 2018 Guideline from the College of American Pathologists(CAP), the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) , and the Association for Molecular Pathology(AMP) established a benchmark turnaround time (TAT), according to which the results were supposed to be available to the treating oncologist within 10 working days. Methods. In this study, we established and validated a new protocol for pathological diagnosis and treatment pathway that was tested in the Henan Cancer Hospital, China. Results. Compared with the routine pathway, the new path adopts a parallel approach to conventional pathology and molecular pathology, which significantly shortens the TAT to 4-6 days. Self-designed DNA biology collector “BIOCO” tool, designed by our team to collect specimens that are discarded when the wax block is trimmed, can effectively save pathological samples, avoid cross-contamination and reduce the period extension caused by re-sampling. Most importantly, its accuracy and effectiveness are consistent with conventional collection methods. Conclusions. Therefore, the new diagnosis and treatment pathway based on the BIOCO collector can be used as a practical approach to the molecular diagnostic platform of the hospital pathology department.