 European HPV DNA Test External Quality Assurance Scheme Web-Page: www.mendelcenter.org/eheqas Coordinator: Dr Pavlos Neophytou, Mendel Center for Biomedical Sciences 5 Kimonos, 2406 Egkomi, Cyprus, Tel: +357 22 664105, Email: pav@mendelcenter.org Vice-Coordinators: (1) Dr Jozsef Konya, Dept. of Medical Microbiology University of Debrecen, Hungary, Tel: +36 52 417565 (2) Dr Ruth Tachezy, National Ref. Lab for Papillomaviruses Inst. of Heamatol. and Blood Transfusion, Prague, Czech Republic, Tel: +420 221 977 222 (3) Dr Christos Kroupis, University of Athens Medical School Attikon University Hospital, Haidari, 12462 Athens, Greece, Tel: +30 210 583 1919 Introduction EHEQAS was set up to assess and improve the quality of HPV DNA testing laboratories. Participants Any European laboratory performing HPV tests may participate (low or high-throughput, low or high-resolution typing, in-house or commercial test). A newcomer to the scheme participates once free-of-charge and then if they wish to continue their participation in the scheme they prepay the cost of participating for the rest of the year. Yearly charges 1. €200 for labs who test >200 diagnostic samples per year and who have to test 20 EHEQAS samples per year. 2. €170 for labs who test >150 diagnostic samples per year and who have to test 15 EHEQAS samples per year. 3. €140 for labs who test >100 diagnostic samples per year and who have to test 10 EHEQAS samples per year. 4. €90 for labs who test <100 diagnostic samples per year and who have to test 5 EHEQAS samples per year. Methods Batches of 5-10 samples are sent from the coordinator (Dr Neophytou) to participants 1-2 times per year. Participants test samples and have to report results to the coordinator within 3 weeks. Results are tabulated and consensus results are prepared. Marks are awarded to participants and once every 12-18 months certificates (of participation or competence) are issued. Competence certificates are based on the average marks received in ≥3 rounds of tests. ISO 17043 EHEQAS has started the process of being accredited according to ISO/IEC 17043:2010. This will be very useful for participating laboratories who have an ISO themselves (15189 or otherwise). Results For more detailed results please see the attached presentation which was presented as a poster at the congresses of the Cyprus AntiCancer Society and the Cyprus Association of Clinical Laboratories in March 2011 and has been selected for an oral presentation at Eurogin Congress in Lisbon, Portugal, May 2011. |
|
|
EHEQAS |