Liquid Companion Specimens

Immediately following the biopsy, if the Crow’s Nest is used, a liquid companion specimen is generated and sent to the Virchow Vault, accessioned by Virchow Medical, and stored. It is available anytime thereafter when the patient’s oncologist would like to order a test. You no longer have to rely on the tissue in the path lab. Now you have an alternative for ordering NGS, or simple gene assays: Just log in to the Virchow Vault, select your patient’s specimen, and select the test you want to order. 

We’ve all heard of Companion Diagnostics.
But what are Companion Specimens?

If the only thing that comes from your patient’s core needle biopsies is solid tissue in formalin, your patients are missing a key enabler of targeted therapy: Liquid companion specimens. A liquid companion specimen is created solely from the dislodged tumor cells that would have been wasted with the used biopsy needle. It takes nothing from the tissue core, and nothing from the patient. It’s a brilliant way to make more genetic testing material available, for free.