APPLICATION OF FORENSIC IDENTITY TESTING IN A CLINICAL SETTING - SPECIMEN IDENTIFICATION

Specimen identification is a carefully controlled factor in clinical l aboratory testing. However, on occasion, despite surmountable efforts to prevent misidentification, a specimen is either mislabeled or an id entifier is lost. Recently, we experienced a case of questionable mix- up of surgical specimens where the surgeon and patient questioned the biopsy site and size of specimen as indicated in the anatomic patholog y report. Despite extensive tracking mechanisms, the perception of spe cimen mix-up warranted further means of identification. We utilized th e PM+DQA1 amplification and typing system to confirm that typing resul ts of a questionable biopsy were identical to typing results on a prev ious biopsy on the same patient and to the patient's blood. We demonst rate that this system is ideal for rapid DNA typing and identification of clinical specimens and that it can be performed on DNA isolated fr om paraffin-embedded tissues.