About 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 proficiency testing and providing examples of recommended protocols, tissue controls and other relevant information including descriptions of epitopes and technical protocol parameters.

NordiQC is a professional and scientific organization independent of economical or political interests. Pathology laboratories are invited to participate in the schemes and enrol by following the instructions at this website.

The diagnostic potential of immunohistochemistry (IHC) in pathology is universally accepted, but its reliability is compromised by lack of standardization and occasionally of poor performance. The principal advantage of external quality assessment (EQA) is the ability to detect differences of IHC quality between laboratories and provide guidance on how to achieve optimal and comparable results. Still, there is a huge need for improvements and for communication in the field of IHC particularly due to considerable variations in standards and routines among laboratories due to the fact that several laboratories have not had the time or expertise to develop their IHC panels and procedures to an optimal level. The increasing number of predictive markers makes proficiency testing in pathology laboratories even more important.