Philly, simple answer YES, they can test a Jan 09 sample if they want to. I had to ask for two years before I got an okay, My doctors knew that base of tongue cancer often involves HPV but gave the same reasons back in 07 and 08 on not testing my 07 samples: no change in treatment plan plus the medical Catch 22: we don't usually do it so it's not customary and routine, so your insurance won't pay for it. I wish I could claim credit for being a persuasive and persistent advocate, but what changed was my CCC now is "routinely" testing pathology samples for HPV in oral cancers due to the research sponsored in part by OCF. Even though my surgery was in February 09 before they changed the pathology routine, they agreed to run the test. It was negative but I had guessed that from its coming back so strongly in the same place. I still haven't seen the insurance claim or bill but that's a posting for another thread in the future.