Question from another lab.

Any idea why small biopsies of adenoma would be
hard and crunchy to section, with lots of microchatter?
Yet all other small biopsies (GI, skin, liver) run on
the same processor are fine, cut great, look great?

The schedule is (if I remember correctly) - 2 formalin,
1 70%, 1 80%, 3 95%, 2 100%, 2 xylene, 3 paraffin.
No heat on any stations except paraffin, which is 59 degrees.

Now the kicker - The adenomas used to cut OK when they
had 10% UNBUFFERED formalin in the processor (trying to
speed up the fixation rate). They have switched to
10% BUFFERED formalin, and everything still cuts
great except the adenomas.

Any and all (reasonable) suggestions/explanations
are encouraged.

Peggy A. Wenk, HTL(ASCP)
William Beaumont Hospital
Royal Oak, MI 48073