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NordiQC Organization

 

Aim   Policy  Methods   Accreditation   Background  
   

Institute of Pathology

Aalborg University Hospital
 

P.O.Box 561 (not for courier mail)

DK-9100 Aalborg

Denmark

e-mail address: nordiqc@rn.dk

Fax: +45 9811 5990
 

Street address for courier mail:

Institute of Pathology

Aalborg University Hospital

Ladegaardsgade 3

DK-9000 Aalborg, Denmark

Tel.: +45 9932 1620 (courier service only!)

Fax: +45 9811 5990


Do not write P.O.Box on courier mail.

 

IP address of the server hosting www.nordiqc.org: 62.243.72.6

Director

Mogens Vyberg, Aalborg, DK

(e-mail: mv@rn.dk)

 

Scheme manager

Søren Nielsen, Aalborg, DK

(e-mail: sn@rn.dk)

 

Scheme organizer

Rasmus Røge, Aalborg, Denmark

(e-mail: rr@rn.dk)

 

Core Group

Jan Klos, Stavanger, NO

(e-mail: klja@sus.no)
Ari Ristimäkki,
Helsinki
, FI

(e-mail: ari.ristimaki@helsinki.fi)

Viktoria Gaspar

(e-mail: Viktoria.Gaspar@skane.se)
Mogens Vyberg

Søren Nielsen

Aim of NordiQC

The aim of Nordic immunohistochemical Quality Control (NordiQC) is to promote the quality of  immunohistochemistry and expand its clinical use by arranging schemes for immunohistochemical staining and providing examples of good protocols and other information including descriptions of epitopes and technical solutions.

Scheme advisor

Emina Torlakovic, Saskatoon, SK, Canada


Technician

Lise Emanuelsen, Aalborg, Denmark

(e-mail: le@rn.dk)

 

Assessors 2013

General module
Jan Klos, Stavanger, NO

Søren Nielsen, Aalborg, DK

Ari Ristimäki, Helsinki, FI

Viktoria Gaspar, Helsingborg, SE

Mogens Vyberg, Aalborg, DK

Michael Bzorek, Næstved, DK

Ole Nielsen, Odense, DK

Rasmus Røge, Aalborg, DK

 

Breast cancer IHC module
Gunilla Chebil, Helsingborg, SE

Viktoria Gaspar, Helsingborg, SE

Vibeke Jensen, Aarhus, DK

Päivi Heikkilä, Helsinki, FI

Jan Bak, Stavanger, NO

Søren Nielsen, Aalborg, DK

Rasmus Røge, Aalborg, DK

 

HER2 ISH Module

Anne-Vibeke Lænkholm, Copenhagen, DK

Ole Nielsen, Odense, DK

Søren Nielsen, Aalborg, DK

Policy

NordiQC is a professional and scientific organization independent of economical or political interests. The fact that NordiQC could not be established without its sponsors has no influence on our methods, results or conclusions.

The legal platform is described in the Statutes of NordiQC

All Nordic pathology laboratories are invited to participate in schemes. The laboratories enrol by following the instructions at this website (see Participation).

A limited number of laboratories outside the Nordic countries are accepted as participants.

Methods

The NordiQC work is primarily based on routine immunostaining of slides from standard processed human histological specimens with varying expression of antigens. The stains presented at the web-site  originates from Nordic laboratories participating in schemes (see Participation) arranged by NordiQC.

Important immunohistochemical markers are described with illustrations of optimal staining results. The origin of these stains and the associated protocols are given, encouraging technicians and pathologists to communicate directly when needed.

If a participating laboratory wish to remain anonymous, NordiQC should be informed by e-mail.

Further details are described in Assessment method.

Payment and banking details, see Subscription

Accreditation

Aalborg University Hospital is accredited according to The Danish Healthcare Quality Programme, see the certificate and the website http://www.ikas.dk/IKAS/English.aspx. Separate accreditation of NordiQC is currently not possible.

As NordiQC receives numerous "vendor" questionnaires and are asked to fill out various forms answering questions that are mostly irrelevant for the our service, we do not have the capacity to answer them individually.

The most common questions and answers are given here (get the text as pdf):

Participants' questions

NordiQC's answers

Vendor Name

Nordic Immunohistochemical Quality Control (NordiQC)

Address:

Institute of Pathology, Aalborg University Hospital, P.O.Box 561, DK-9100 Aalborg

Supplies/ Services Provided

External quality assessments for immunohistochemistry in human histopathology

Is your Company currently accredited to a recognised Quality Management System?

No

If no, is your Company actively seeking or does it intend to seek accreditation in the future?

Accreditation of Aalborg University Hospital hosting NordiQC is planned in 2015.

If your Company is not accredited to a recognised Quality Management System, please provide information on how you control the following:

Stock Control (including ordering, receipt and rotation)

Not relevant

Stock Checks with regard to expiry dates before despatch to customers

Not relevant

Quality Control procedures undertaken by your company on receipt of material from the manufacturer

Not relevant

Storage and transport facilities including temperature monitoring and mapping for temperature dependent  materials

Not relevant

Would permission be given to perform an on-site audit of your company

Yes

Is it your policy to provide Certificates of Analysis/ Certificates of Conformance?

Yes

If yes, do you provide same routinely or on request:

Routinely

Please describe your policy for informing customers of changes in advance of implementation as it applies to diagnostic reagents/ kits, software upgrade etc.:

Not relevant

How do you ensure that the diagnostic reagents/ kits that you supply are in accordance with the EU directive in relation to CE marking of invitro diagnostic devices:

Not relevant

Describe your policy on following up customer complaints:

Not relevant. For reassessments, see
http://www.nordiqc.org/Subscription.htm#Reassessment

NordiQC 2012
Mogens Vyberg
Director 

 

NordiQC's background

The diagnostic potential of immunohistochemistry (IHC) in pathology is universally accepted, but its reliability is compromised by lack of standardisation and poor performance. The principal advantage of external quality assessment (EQA) is the ability to detect differences of quality between laboratories and provide guidance on how to achieve acceptable standards. In the Nordic countries, some pathology laboratories have participated in UK-NEQAS schemes, and some in regional schemes. Still, there is a huge need for improvements and for communication in the field of immunohistochemistry particularly due to considerable variations in standards and routines among laboratories and the fact that several laboratories have not had the time or opportunities to develop their immunohistochemical panels and procedures. The increasing number of useful antibodies and protocols have also led to confusion or even resignation among some of our colleagues.

In 1999 nine pathologists from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden with initial help from Dako constructed a Nordic pilot scheme for EQA. A number of test runs were performed involving a number of laboratories increasing from four to 55. Based on this experience, NordiQC was established as a permanent organisation from January 2003 with Institute of Pathology, Aalborg University Hospital as its domicile.

A core group was performed with one representative from each of the four Nordic countries - Denmark: Mogens Vyberg, Aalborg; Norway: Emina Torlakovic, Oslo; Sweden: Tomas Seidal, Karlstad (later Halmstad) and Finland: Heikki Helin, Tampere (later Helsinki). Because of a new position in Canada, Emina Torlakovic left the core group by the end of 2003 to be replaced by Bjørn Risberg, Oslo, and from 2009 Jan Klos, Stavanger, took over as the Norwegian representative. Tomas Seidal left the core group in 2012, Viktoria Gaspar, Lund, took over as the Swedish representative.

In the first scheme (2003), about 70 Nordic laboratories participated. In 2012, more than 350 laboratories from about 40 countries have attended.

MV/RR/LE

Last update 18-03-2013