Immunohistochemistry is a reagent-dependent test. Different clones against the same target can differ in sensitivity, and validation in one laboratory does not transfer to another's protocol. External quality assessment schemes exist precisely because of this.
When a single stain is pivotal — a negative that excludes a diagnosis, or a pattern that upgrades a lesion — recording the clone and the control result in the report lets a reviewer or a second laboratory interpret it properly, and makes discordance easier to explain.
- Include the antibody clone in the report when one stain drives the diagnosis.
- Record that appropriate positive and negative controls stained as expected.
- Repeat a pivotal negative with a different clone or in another laboratory when it conflicts with morphology.
- Take part in external quality assessment for stains your diagnoses depend on.
Why it matters
It turns a discordant second opinion from a mystery into something that can be checked.
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