What should you know about process of immunohistochemistry?

A pathologist selects tissue from a biopsy or surgery and preserves it in a block. Thin sections are placed on glass slides. The laboratory adds antibodies designed to attach to particular proteins, followed by a chemical or coloured marker that makes the attached areas visible under a microscope.

The pathologist compares the staining pattern and strength with appropriate controls and the appearance of the cells. Results can support tumour classification, suggest where a cancer began, or identify markers that affect treatment choices. A stain is one part of the diagnosis and is interpreted alongside the tissue structure and clinical information.

Ask whether the sample was adequate, which markers were tested and whether the report uses terms such as positive, negative, weak, strong or equivocal. These words describe the test result for a particular marker; they do not by themselves describe the whole outlook.

Keep the pathology report with your medical records and ask whether additional stains, molecular tests or review by another pathologist would clarify the diagnosis. Your clinician can explain how the findings connect with imaging, symptoms and treatment planning.

Immunohistochemistry is performed on tissue, so it does not usually create a new recovery period. Contact the clinical team urgently for heavy bleeding, worsening pain, fever, spreading redness or breathing trouble after the biopsy that supplied the sample.

Ask which proteins were tested, what each result means for your tumour type, whether the findings change treatment options, and when the complete pathology interpretation will be discussed.