[PCR based diagnosis in pathology]

Area of Science:

• Pathology
• Molecular Diagnostics
• Infectious Disease

Background:

• Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is increasingly important for infectious disease diagnosis in surgical pathology.
• Tissue fixation in pathological laboratories can lead to DNA fragmentation, posing challenges for PCR assays.

Purpose of the Study:

• To summarize the experience of using PCR-based infectious disease diagnosis over 5 years.
• To highlight the adaptation of PCR assays for fragmented DNA in surgical pathology specimens.

Main Methods:

• Review of 3500 PCR-based analyses performed over 5 years.
• Adaptation of PCR assays to handle DNA fragmentation in fixed tissue samples.

Main Results:

• PCR-based diagnosis is a safe and effective technique.
• The method demonstrates high sensitivity and specificity.
• Etiologically based diagnoses were achieved.

Conclusions:

• PCR-based infectious disease diagnosis is a valuable method in surgical pathology.
• Appropriate quality standards and assay adaptation are crucial for success.
• This technique provides reliable and specific etiological diagnoses.