Abstract
To the Editor We read with interest the article by Ibarra and colleagues1 reporting their findings on the effects of varying fixation times on HER2/neu immunohistochemical analysis. In this study, the authors studied 10 breast carcinoma excisional biopsy specimens with corresponding preexcision core biopsy specimens that showed HER2/neu overexpression (3+). The results showed a high level of HER2/neu expression at all fixation times studied (3, 48, 72, 96, and 120 hours). While the authors correctly identify this study as a pilot study, these experiments have at least 3 significant shortcomings that should be noted. First, the authors concluded that “formalin fixation time over wide intervals has little or no impact on the expression of routine prognostic markers.” It is not possible to reach this conclusion based on the presented data because cases with intermediate and low levels of expression (HER2/neu 1+ and 2+ cases) were not studied, as the authors subsequently note. In addition, confirmation of the immunohistochemical results by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) would be …
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