About ESLHO

The European Scientific foundation for Laboratory Hemato Oncology (ESLHO) is a scientifically independent foundation that promotes innovation, standardization, quality assessment, and education of laboratory diagnostics in the fields of hematology and immunology, together with the associated consortia EuroClonality, EuroFlow, and EuroMRD.

Main activities include organizing scientific symposia and other educational activities, and running the ESLHO EQA Program, besides providing broad consortium management support to EuroClonality, EuroFlow, and EuroMRD.

ESLHO is a Specialized Working Group of the European Hematology Association (EHA).

For more information please visit the ESLHO website.

ESLHO EQA Program

At ESLHO, we are dedicated to elevating standards in diagnostic testing by providing external quality assessments (EQA) to laboratories worldwide. These assessments are offered through the ESLHO EQA Program, which includes a range of EQA schemes across the hemato-oncology and immunology fields. Our primary goal is to ensure accuracy and reliability in diagnostic results. By using solid evaluation processes and offering clear, practical educational support, we help laboratory professionals strengthen their diagnostic skills and deepen their understanding of best practices. This combination of assessment and education boosts laboratory performance and contributes to better patient outcomes.

The EQA schemes are organized by ESLHO in collaboration with subject-matter experts from laboratories within the EuroClonality, EuroFlow, and EuroMRD consortia, who perform relevant diagnostic analyses on a routine basis. The schemes cover diagnostic and monitoring workflows and include immunoglobulin/T-cell receptor (IG/TR) clonality testing, multiparameter flow-cytometry panels (for example, in primary immunodeficiencies, leukemias, and multiple myeloma), and measurable residual disease (MRD) detection using RQ-PCR, dPCR, and NGS. The involvement of these expert laboratories is invaluable because of their high-level expertise and access to high-quality samples and clinical cases, ensuring that the EQA schemes are clinically relevant and of consistently high quality.

We offer the EQA Program through the ESLHO EQA Portal. On this website, you can view the available schemes and find detailed scheme information including costs, timelines, and involved expert laboratories. After creating an account, you can manage schemes from registration to report, including downloading scheme instructions and case files (if applicable), submission of EQA results, and accessing participation certificates and reports.

EuroClonality

EuroClonality is a European scientifically independent foundation aiming to promote continuous innovation, standardization, quality assessment, and education in laboratory diagnostics in the hemato-oncology field, with a special emphasis on clonality testing. EuroClonality developed and standardized novel multiplex PCR assays for detection of immunoglobulin (IG) and T-cell receptor (TR) gene rearrangements. These assays are now widely used for the diagnosis of lymphoproliferative disorders. In the previous decade, new IG/TR NGS-based assays for clonality assessment, MRD, and repertoire studies were developed and published.

Together with EuroClonality, ESLHO organizes the EuroClonality EQA scheme for IG/TR Clonality Testing in Suspected Lymphoproliferations/Lymphoma once per year.

EuroFlow

EuroFlow develops and standardizes fast, accurate, and highly sensitive flow cytometric tests for diagnosis and prognostic (sub)classification of hematological malignancies as well as for evaluation of treatment effectiveness during follow-up.

Together with EuroFlow, ESLHO organizes the EuroFlow LST, PIDOT, MM MRD, and BCP-ALL MRD EQA schemes twice per year.

EuroMRD

EuroMRD develops guidelines for the interpretation of RQ-PCR MRD and NGS MRD data. These guidelines ensure identical interpretation of MRD data between different laboratories that use the same MRD-based clinical protocol.

Together with EuroMRD, ESLHO organizes EQA schemes for quantitative MRD diagnostics for lymphoid malignancies twice per year for the EuroMRD sections ALL (incl. KMT2A), NHL, and Ph+ALL. Pilot schemes include dPCR and NGS based schemes.