Changing hospitals in China for a pathology review: borrowing and returning slides

Get the receiving hospital's requirements before borrowing slides

If your pathology material is held by a hospital in China and you want a review at another Chinese hospital, you need to contact both institutions. The receiving hospital specifies the material it needs; the original hospital's pathology department handles the loan. Match the slides to their report when collecting them, and establish the return arrangements before submitting them for review.

This article is for patients whose pathology material is already held in China. Each hospital procedure described applies to that institution. If your material is still overseas, the Chinese hospital's acceptance requirements and the import, export and transport requirements need separate verification.

Contact the pathology department or its published review service counter at the hospital you plan to use. Explain that you have a pathology report, where the material is held, and what question the review should address. Obtain specific material requirements before applying to the original hospital, so that you do not borrow material the receiving hospital cannot use.

For example, the Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences lists pathology slides or paraffin blocks, the original institution's pathology report, and an electronic patient card or registration slip for its hospital. A copy of the report is acceptable, but the patient name, pathology accession number and specimen site must match the material before it can be accepted.[1]

When collecting slides, take the corresponding report and check them together. If you have had several biopsies or operations, establish which examination the borrowed material comes from. Avoid taking the latest report with slides from a different examination.

What can you request if the original hospital will not lend a block?

Distinguish the terms before applying: a paraffin block contains processed tissue; an unstained slide is a thin section cut from that block and not yet stained; a stained slide has been stained for a pathologist to examine. These materials should not be named interchangeably in an application.[2]

Shandong Provincial Hospital's pathology service Q&A, published on 21 July 2025, states that its paraffin blocks are not lent out. Where necessary, patients can apply for unstained slides with a doctor's supporting document.[3] If the hospital holding your material cannot lend a block, explain this to the receiving pathology department. It decides whether slides can be used instead and which type is needed.

A patient education article published by Beijing Tsinghua Changgung Hospital on 10 March 2025 notes that the tissue in a block is finite. Before requesting unstained slides, establish the number, thickness and whether adhesion-treated slides are needed.[2] Give the receiving department's requirements to the original pathology department rather than requesting extra sections on your own.

Where do you submit the loan application and report?

Ask the original hospital's pathology department which counter handles slide loans. Explain whether you will apply yourself or a family member will act for you, then submit the documents that hospital requires.

For example, the Shandong Provincial Hospital Q&A gives two application routes: a responsible doctor at that hospital or another hospital can issue and sign a slide-loan application; alternatively, the patient or family can present the pathology report or a copy and the patient's identity card, write and sign the reason for the loan, and apply at the pathology review counter. Before slides leave the department, the pathologist who signed the original report must check and sign for them.[3]

This notice does not establish that a foreign patient can complete the same procedure using a passport. Tell the original hospital your document type and who will act for you, and obtain requirements that apply to you. If it requires a loan request from the receiving hospital, obtain one from that institution; one hospital's requirement for a stamp is not a prerequisite at every hospital.

Which documents must you return with the slides?

When collecting the slides, keep the loan receipt and record the quantity, pathology accession number and return deadline. If the deadline approaches before the review is complete, contact the original hospital rather than waiting until the report is ready and discovering the loan is overdue.

Shandong Provincial Hospital's Q&A requires borrowed slides to be returned within one month, together with the loan receipt, the complete set of slides and a copy of the external review report.[3] One month is that hospital's published deadline. Other hospitals' deadlines follow their own loan requirements.

Unstained slides may be handled differently. The Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences states that it returns the relevant blocks or stained slides from other hospitals after review, but does not return submitted unstained slides that it uses and retains.[1] When submitting material, distinguish borrowed original slides from unstained slides supplied for the review, and clarify with both hospitals what will be returned and what may be used and retained. If the original hospital charges a deposit, keep the receipt and check the refund conditions.

What should you explain when asking for coordination?

Through the SinoCareHub contact page, explain which hospital holds the material, where you plan to seek a review, what material you have, and the language support you need. You do not need to upload your complete medical records with the initial form.

With authorization, SinoCareHub can help organize records, contact hospitals and communicate appointment requirements.[4] After the hospital responds, it can help list what to request from the original institution, what is still missing and which department to contact next. The hospital decides whether to accept the material and how to diagnose it. Collection or transport of physical material requires separate confirmation of service scope.

For electronic reports and other files, see Checking files and channels before sending medical records.