METHOD OF SCREENING TISSUE SPECIMENS FOR DIAGNOSTIC EXAMINATION

A process is provided for expediting the diagnosis of an array of tissue specimens suspected of being diseased by eliminating from the array a large portion of the clearly disease-free specimens so that only a relatively small number of specimens need be examined closely for the presence or absence of disease. In the process, a specimen of cells is homogenized after extraneous cellular material such as protein is removed. A predetermined quantity of cells is counted and separated from the specimen and are treated with a radioactive dye which corresponds to the nature of the disease to be diagnosed. The cells uptake the dye in relation to their condition of health, i.e., diseased cells take up more dye and hence radioactive material than normal cells. The excess radioactive material is rinsed from the quantity of cells, and the quantity is solubilized. The level of radioactivity of the specimen cells is sensed and is compared with the level of radioactivity of a normal cell sample which had been identically prepared to obtain a ratio. If the level of activity is below a prescribed ratio, as determined empirically, the specimen need not receive further examination.