Please send all Pathology Slides/Blocks and Reports to us via rapid carrier ten (10) days prior to your scheduled appointment so that a pathologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering can perform a review in time for your appointment. Please ensure that:
- All accompanying reports are in English.
- The patient's name appears on the report (in English).
- You send a copy of the patient's passport - noting first and last name.
If the medical work-up that you have had prior to coming to Memorial included the examination by a pathologist of histologic or cytologic preparations, it is very important that such material be reviewed by the Department of Pathology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering. In many instances, the clinician who will be seeing you at Memorial will not be able to express an opinion on the prognosis or recommended therapy for your disease until that review has taken place.
We recommend that you request that material from the pathology laboratory that performed the examination, either directly or through your personal physician. The material to be requested consists of the following: microscopic slides (including special stains if they have been performed), and a copy of the complete pathology report (in English). Please make sure that the patient's name appears on the peport and that the name is written in English.
If the pathology material included tissue (biopsy or surgical specimen), we recommend for you to also obtain the paraffin block from which these slides have been prepared. The pathologists at Memorial may need to perform additional special stains and will need the block for that purpose. If several paraffin blocks have been prepared, one will be sufficient as long as the pathologist at the laboratory has made sure that this block is representative of the lesion.
The accession (reference) numbers on the slides must match the numbers on the report.
If several pathologic examinations have been performed, material (slides, blocks and reports) should be requested for all of them.
If any additional studies have been made by the laboratory with that tissue (such as electron microscopy, molecular assays, flow cytometry, etc.), copies of the corresponding reports (in English) should also be requested and submitted.
Unstained slides sent to us will be stained in our laboratory and will not be returned.
Please pack the material very carefully, particularly the glass slides. The laboratory that prepared those slides should be able to provide you with appropriate containers for this purpose. The material should be sent via rapid carrier (such as FedEx).
The U.S. Department of Transportation requires that all packages containing diagnostic specimens be "triple-packed" as follows:
- Primary receptacles - typically glass or plastic test tubes
- Secondary packaging - to protect the primary receptacle from breakage and leakage (typically a sealed plastic bag with absorbent material inside)
- Outer packaging - typically a corrugated or chipboard box
The outside of the package must be marked to indicate "Diagnostic Specimens."
Send to:
Memorial Sloan-Kettering International Center
Pre-Appointment Diagnostic Specimen Review
160 East 53d Street, 11th Floor
New York, NY 10022
Phone Number: 212-639-4900
Please notify the International Center prior to shipping any materials.
Please take note: Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center is unable to translate documents on your behalf. Please ensure that all medical reports are translated into English prior to coming to see a physician at Memorial Hospital. Failure to bring these materials with you (in English) will delay your appointment and in some cases result in cancellation of the appointment.
