A practical guide to constructing and using tissue microarrays.

Tissue microarray (TMA) technology is a robust "high throughput" method of tissue analysis, whereby a large number of patient samples can be examined in a short time using a minimum number of slides. In a TMA, cylinders of tissue are cored out of formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue blocks and slotted in a regular grid pattern into a blank recipient paraffin wax block. The TMA block is then cut using a standard laboratory microtome.