Roxanne,
Most of your wondering is correct, such as using a negative control per
block.  Your volume will increase.  In reference to "built in negative
control" you should have that specifically mentioned in your procedure
manual. The very best thing to do is to ask your specific question(s) to
CAP directly. They have a e-mail address that I have use several times
and they respond promptly and precisely.  Here's the address:
accred@cap.org 

Good Luck,
Dana Settembre
University Hospital - UMDNJ
Newark, New Jersey

>>> Roxanne Soto  12/9/2005 10:18:39 AM >>>

       ______________________________________________________________

     >I  have  a  question  about  a particular IHC that I do on a
daily
     basis. I do a PIN-4 cocktail
     >stain  on  prostate  cores. This cocktail contains p63, CK903,
and
     P504S. My question is, do I
     >need to perform a negative control?
     >Right  now  we are not CAP certified, but we are looking to
become
     certified. CLIA only
     >requires one negative per case, instead of one negative per
block.
     We deal with very tiny
     >cores  and  I  am  currently following the CLIA guidelines in
this
     matter. However, we are
     >looking  to  automate  and  work  on  CAP  accreditation  and
this
     negative factor would greatly
     >increase  our volume and therefor would mean that we would need
to
     get a stainer to
     >accommodate the volume.
     >I  know that whenever I do a CK903, I do not do a negative
because
     the tissue has built in
     >controls. Is this now null and void because of the racemase?
     >Please advice.
     >Thank you
     >Roxanne Soto HT(ASCP)
     >Tampa
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