Joyce

If you have the luxury of  two processors you can process small bx's on one
processor and the larges on another. In the lab I used to work at we
processed small bx's in a separate enclosed processor. The times were 20
minutes each station. Needle bx's have an even shorter processing time of
10  minutes each station. When we processed bx's we were very carefull
about not using heat or vacuum. It will cause the bx's to over harden. Also
make sure your last paraffin is solvent free. Hopefully the processor has
at least three paraffin's stations.

The other thing that can affect processing is having too many 100%
alcohols.  You can take the bound water out of the tissue by using too
many. The specimens will be very dry and require a lot of soaking on ice.
Freida Carson recommends no more than two 100% alcohols in her Self
Instructional Text book on Histotechnology. I have found this to be very
true.

If you only have one tissue processor for both large specimens and bx's a
time of no longer than 45 minutes each station is recommended. Some of the
problems that may occur with this type of processing schedule is that the
large specimens may not be fixed long enough. If you have heat on any
stations that heat will affect the small biopsies.

Hope this helps!

Regards

Mari Ann Mailhiot BA HT ASCP
Application Specialist
Leica Technical Assistance Center
800 248 0123 x7267
847 236 3063 fax
mari.ann.mailhiot@leica-microsystems.com
www.leica-microsystems.com


                                                                                                                                                    
                      "Rush, Joyce"                                                                                                                 
                                     To:                                                  
                      Sent by:                              cc:                                                                                     
                      histonet-bounces@lists.utsouth        Subject:  [Histonet] (no subject)                                                       
                      western.edu                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                                    
                      06/11/2004 09:37 AM                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                                    




I am a Lab Manager, not a Histotech, and I need your help. We are a general
pathology practice and need to know what kind of processing cycles others
use for small bx's.  Currently our lab processes all tissues together,
large and small, and therefore has much trouble with over processed bx's.

I would very much appreciate your guidance so that I can help our histology
area move forward.

Thanks so much!

Joyce

Joyce A. Rush, BS, MT(ASCP)
Laboratory Manager
St Joseph's Medical Center
523 North Third Street
Brainerd, MN  56401
Office:218-828-7500   Fax:  218-828-7510






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