Immunohistochemical procedures: applications and problems.

The introduction of immunohistochemical methods into pathological diagnostics has opened new possibilities for combining the specificity of immunological methods with the selectivity of morphological techniques. This considerable expansion of diagnostic possibilities has occurred since the introduction of monoclonal antibodies. The basic conditions of immunohistochemical reactions (fixation, embedding), fundamental differences between the use of monoclonal antibodies and that of polyclonal antisera and possibilities for increasing the sensitivity of diagnoses are discussed and illustrated by practical examples.