Specimen

Tissue or FNA

Testing Schedule:

0800-1630 Monday through Friday.  For additional services, 
contact Clinical Pathology Resident on-call at pager #3404.

Analytic Time:

2 days

Reference Range:

The pathologist will provide an interpretive report.

Comments:

Please send a Surgical Pathology H-1 form to Immunopathology with this 
request.

If ER studies are desired on previous surgical material, please contact 
the Immunopathology resident at #4514. Provide the patient's name, 
hospital number and surgical pathology specimen number.

Estrogen Receptor (ER) expression status in breast carcinoma is an 
important prognostic and predictive biomarker according to recently 
published guidelines. ER status determination has become a part of the 
routine assessment of these tumors. About 60-70% of these tumors are ER 
positive, and this is associated with a more favorable prognosis than 
ER negative tumors. Immunohistochemical assessment of ER (as well as 
progesterone receptor) status has been recently documented to be 
superior to ligand binding assays in predicting response to hormonal 
manipulation in breat carcinoma. Immunohistochemical staining is 
performed on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded sections of tumor. An 
immunohistochemical (IHC) score is generated by the interpreting 
pathologist. A score of >2 has been used to define ER positivity.

Methodology:

Immunohistochemistry

CPT Code:

88342 Estrogen Receptor
88342-26 Estrogen Receptor Professional Interpretation

See also:
Progesterone Receptor, Tissue or FNA