Tissue Banking Overview: Washington University Medical Center

8/21/2012
Classification of banked specimens for billing purposes
Public - is a discard from surgical pathology. Consent is either waived or, if feasible, is
obtained retroactively from the patient (i.e. at some time point following surgery) by the
research nursing coordinator for the Tissue Procurement Core. SCC supports the total
cost of procurement, deposit & storage. The investigator/study protocol requesting
withdrawal of public samples assumes the cost of withdrawal procedures.
Semi‐Public ‐ Collected per an approved research protocol. The scientist supports
the cost of protocol approval and sample procurement. The SCC supports the cost of
sample processing for deposit and storage costs. Semi‐public samples are considered
owned by both SCC and the principal investigator (PI) of the consent form. The
investigator/protocol requesting withdrawal of semi‐public sample assumes the cost of
withdrawal procedures. Sample usage not restricted to a certain investigator or group.
Private ‐ collected per an approved protocol. The PI supports the cost of protocol
approval as well as the cost of sample procurement, storage & withdrawal. A private
sample may not be withdrawn by another investigator unless the original protocol PI
agrees.
Tissue Utilization Committee
• Has been established for the Tissue Procurement Core, and
implementation is awaiting final refinements of informatics
• Committee provides an independent assessment of resource usage vs.
benefit/impact
• Need driven by Siteman Cancer Center and CAP directives
• Committee: 1 chair, 2 statisticians (ad hoc), and 9 members
drawn from Siteman Cancer Center community
• Initially, role of this committee will be to review public bank
samples; once efficient flow is established, role will expand to
semi-public and even private samples
• Committee can also help assess the appropriateness of sample disposal,
and storage demands for new protocols
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