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Freezing tumors
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Freezing tumors

› Forums › General Melanoma Community › Freezing tumors

  • Post
    • May 1, 2011 at 8:48 pm
    killmel
    Participant

      Hi Everyone,

       

      I am scheduled for surgery to remove a tumor in a few weeks.

       

      Has anyone frozen their tumor & if so, how did you use your frozen tumor at a later date( ie genetic testing, vaccine, etc.)? Was there a costor fee for freezing the tumor & for storing it.

      Thanks for your input.

       

      Jan

      Hi Everyone,

       

      I am scheduled for surgery to remove a tumor in a few weeks.

       

      Has anyone frozen their tumor & if so, how did you use your frozen tumor at a later date( ie genetic testing, vaccine, etc.)? Was there a costor fee for freezing the tumor & for storing it.

      Thanks for your input.

       

      Jan

    Viewing 1 reply thread
    • Replies
        • May 1, 2011 at 9:32 pm
        MichaelFL
        Participant

          I believe molecular profiling is done with paraffin embedded formaldehyde preserved tissue. This is the paraffin block which is prepared from a sample of your tumor as part of the standard pathology examination. These blocks are often retained by the hospital for years or even indefinitely. You can check on the status of yours and even collect it if it's in danger of being tossed.

          Your local hospital's pathology department may also be able to freeze a sample of your tumor as well.  You may wish to discuss this before your surgery.

          Here is one commercial service which offers tumor cryopreservation. I would be sure to discuss both the cost of initial preservation and ongoing maintenance as well as how much will be stored and whether the samples would be suitable for future gene analysis. Preserving cell viability is not a requirement but ensuring that cellular RNA and DNA will be preserved is.
           

          Cyro Labs: http://cryoma.com/

          Michael

          • May 1, 2011 at 9:32 pm
          MichaelFL
          Participant

            I believe molecular profiling is done with paraffin embedded formaldehyde preserved tissue. This is the paraffin block which is prepared from a sample of your tumor as part of the standard pathology examination. These blocks are often retained by the hospital for years or even indefinitely. You can check on the status of yours and even collect it if it's in danger of being tossed.

            Your local hospital's pathology department may also be able to freeze a sample of your tumor as well.  You may wish to discuss this before your surgery.

            Here is one commercial service which offers tumor cryopreservation. I would be sure to discuss both the cost of initial preservation and ongoing maintenance as well as how much will be stored and whether the samples would be suitable for future gene analysis. Preserving cell viability is not a requirement but ensuring that cellular RNA and DNA will be preserved is.
             

            Cyro Labs: http://cryoma.com/

            Michael

        Viewing 1 reply thread
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