Specimen Collection Manual and Test Catalog

POC or tissue in Hanks solution.

Collect in sterile specimen container with Hanks' solution. Patient clinical history and reason for referral are required with test order.

Room temperature.

Specimen viability decreases during transit- send to laboratory as soon as possible.

Frozen specimen unacceptable. Formalin-fixed specimens unacceptable.

Interpretive report.

Approximately 50% of first trimester spontaneous abortuses have abnormal karyotypes. This test is useful to determine cause of miscarriage and recurrence potential. As products of conception can be contaminated or be necrotic by the time of collection, tissue culture may be unsuccessful. Another approach is the study of parental karyotypes from peripheral blood for potential balanced abnormalities that may be heritable in unbalanced forms. This is generally recommended for couples who have experienced three or more spontaneous losses. This test may be replaced by one of the following Test Codes if the specimen does not contain tissue of fetal origin (membrane, villi, or fetus), if the specimen does not yield mitotically active cells for metaphase analysis, or if there are fewer than the standard number of metaphases for analysis. Replacement Test Codes are: 4475 - Chromosome Analysis, No Culture Initiated; 4477 - Chromosome Analysis, Tissue, No Growth; 416 - Cytogenetics Communication, if a communication is required.

Submitted placental and/or fetal tissue is cultured. When available, at least 20 G-banded metaphases are examined microscopically for numerical and structural abnormalities and representative metaphases (minimum of 2) are karyotyped.

Products of Conception Analysis, Quest test code 14593, Cytology study-tissue, TISCR

This test is useful to determine cause of miscarriage and recurrence potential.