Molecular Oncology

We offer a number of molecular investigations which can assist in the management of solid tumour patients including a 50 gene NGS cancer panel. A full list of the variants covered by this panel is available here.

Other tests may be available on request. If you are a clinician/ pathologist requiring another test, please e-mail us at molpath@nhs.net providing us with your contact details.

Requesting Molecular Tests

    OUH cancer patients

Tests should be requested directly by OUH pathologists, so clinicians are advised to liaise with their subspecialty pathologists or to e-mail details of their request to molpath@nhs.net, using the relevant form (linked to the tests above). We appreciate that in some cases it may not be possible to complete all the boxes on the form, as some will require details of pathology results that you may not yet have received.

    Non-OUH cancer patients

For patients being treated at OUH/ as part of an OUH-based multi-disciplinary (MDT) meeting, district general hospitals should print and complete the relevant form (following the link from the test above) and should send it together with pathological material to:

        Molecular Diagnostic Requests
        Oxford Molecular Diagnostics Centre     
        Haematology Laboratory
        Level 4, John Radcliffe Hospital    
        Headington
        Oxford OX3 9DU

The pathologist should mark an area of >70% tumour cells on an H&E or immunostained slide that must be sent with the material for testing. 5 serial sections of the tumour should be cut if the marked area is >2cm2 and 10 sections if the marked area is <2cm2. Multiple sections may be placed on a single glass slide. For cytological material, please cut cell blocks as for tissue blocks or send as much material (smears, touch preps etc) as possible on slides. When preparing pathological material, please ensure the equipment (especially the microtome blade and water bath) is completely clean between cases to prevent cross contamination. This can be achieved by wiping the microtome blade and any other surfaces with ethanol until they are free of any debris from earlier cases.

For all queries, including questions about timing/ availability of results, please e-mail us at molpath@nhs.net, providing us with your contact details. This e-mail account is checked several times a day.