Preparing pathology for personalized medicine: possibilities for improvement of the pre-analytical phase.

International audienceWith the introduction of new biological agents for cancer treatment enabling "personalized medicine", treatment decisions based on the molecular features of the tumor are increasingly common. Consequently, tissue evaluation in tumour pathology is becoming more and more based on a combination of classical morphological and molecular analysis. Results of diagnostic tests rely not only on the quality of the method used but to a large extent also on the quality of specimens which is dependent on the pre-analytical procedures and storage. With the introduction of predictive immunohistochemical and molecular tests in clinical pathology, improvement and standardization of pre-analytical procedures has become crucial. The aim of this review is to increase awareness for tissue handling, for standardization of the pre-analytical phase of a diagnostic process and to address several processing steps in tissue handling that need to be improved in order to obtain the quality needed for modern molecular medicine. Optimal, standardized procedures are crucial to reach a high standard of test results, which is what each patient deserves