200-300 ml of ice water with 1 ml of 1% ammonia is a good soaking media
for these kinds of problems! Or easier yet - soap water. It softens the
collagen I think!

>----------
>From: 	Jim Ball[SMTP:xryhisto@ovis.net]
>Sent: 	Wednesday, February 17, 1999 8:02 PM
>To: 	histonet@Pathology.swmed.edu
>Subject: 	Thyroid cutting problem
>
>Ran across a thyroid the other day that gave me nothing but problems when I
>cut it. I have had very little problens with this type of tissue unless it
>happens to be calcified. This particular thyroid cut like it had sand in it.
>I checked it for microcalcification and found none. I re/embedded it
>thinking there may be dirt in the wax, but alas this did not help. Other
>than the sandy texture to the tissue it appeared adequately fixed and
>processed. The staing was good once I got a section. this problem was not
>isolated to just one block. there were a total of three blocks that cut this
>way. I even tried decacify in the block again no dice. Is there a particular
>condition that might cause this to happen. Thank in advance for any light
>someone may be able to shed on this question
>
>
>