Tissue microarray construction for salivary gland tumors study

OBJECTIVE To describe and discuss the design, building and usefulness of tissue microarray (TMA) blocks for the study of salivary gland tumors (SGTs). STUDY DESIGN Two hundred thirty-eight formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded SGTs were arranged in blocks of TMA using a manual tissue arrayer. Three representative cores of 1.0, 2.0 or 3.0mm were taken from each original block and their characteristics were analyzed and described. RESULTS It was created 12 TMA blocks that presented highly representative neoplastic cylinders. However, those neoplasias rich in cystic spaces such as mucoepidermoid carcinoma and Warthin tumor presented more difficulties to be sampled, as the neoplastic tissue available was scarce. Tissue damage and loss during TMA construction was estimated as 3.7%. CONCLUSION Representative areas of SGTs, with relatively small loss of tissue, can be obtained with the construction of TMA blocks for molecular studies. However, tumors rich in cystic spaces present more difficulties to be adequately sampled.