Several people have asked me about getting prognostic markers done in Bournemouth. I should first say that I no longer work at Bournemouth and have no financial interest in the tests. The tests are carried out by the same scientists who performed the tests in my publications, and the laboratory is the one that I use when patients come and see me. It is possible to do the tests on samples that arrive within 48 hours of the blood draw, and they have successfully tested samples from as far away as New Zealand, sent by courier.
It is first, necessary to het a blood sample taken. They need at least 10 ccs taken into Lithium Heparin anticoagulant (for many manufacturers this is a tube with a green top.)
Then it is necessary to organise an international courier to send the sample (which courier doesn't seem to matter - FedEx, DHL, TNT etc)
The sample should be sent to Dr Rachel Ibbotson, Department of Molecular Biology, Department of Pathology, Royal Bournemouth Hospital, Castle Lane East, Bournemouth BH7 7DW, UK.
Please contact me beforehand so that I can tell them about a sample being due. Try and arrange that the sample arrives during the working week, Monday to Friday.
The tests that are offered and their prices are:
IgVH genes - £156
CD38 - £42
FISH for del 11q and del 17p - £115
Full Karyotyping - in addition to FISH £75, but if separate without FISH then £100.
A new assay for ZAP-70 is being tried, but at tehy moment no charge is made for that.
I will interpret the results without charge. You must make your own arrangements to pay the laboratory for the tests. Some people send a check that cane be negotiable by a British bank, but I am sure that some sort of bank tansfer is possible.
I am interested in having the testing described above. However I have SLL discovered incidentally when I had pelvic surgery in Oct 2006. My blood work is normal. I am 51 and am trying to plan for retirement and wonder if I have 10 years or 30! The oncologist I saw advised me to assume I have the indolent variety of CLL/SLL but I would like some objective evidence this is true. I have a lymph node "sitting" in a path lab in London Ont Canada. If I can arrange to have this node sent to the UK can it be tested or is the testing only available for blood? Thank you in advance for your reply.
ReplyDeleteI am afraid we can do nothing with a lymph node biopsy unless it is freshly taken and delivered to us within 48 hours.
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