[Histonet] Prefer fixative

[Hadi Yaziji]

More on the Prefer issue:

In a reference lab environment (like our lab), we have no choice in 
what our client-colleagues use to fix their specimens, so working with 
an open mind is not an option, but an obligation. I listed a few real 
problems that our techs (who have decades of experience with generating 
and validating antibodies) encounter with specimens fixed with Prefer. 
I also hear similar complaints from experienced colleagues during 
national advisory committee meetings.

If Prefer is used purely to produce adequate H&E results, it is a good 
fixative. In terms of safety, I still look forward to long-term 
follow-up results about its safety. I have no romance with formalin, 
but any alternative fixative must be at least adequate for IHC and (the 
increasingly used) FISH. The Mayo works closely with Vysis, and 
Vysis/Abbott gives a long list of non-formalin fixatives (including 
Prefer) that makes it difficult to get good results using FISH.

Finally, I am a pathologist, and I've learned a great deal from the 
wonderful experience of histotechs and Medtechs through this forum on 
technical issues, the same way I learn from techs in my workplace. On 
the other hand, I occasionally offer advice to the Histonet only when I 
feel it's useful to the group.

Best,

Hadi Yaziji, M.D.
PhenoPath Laboratories

On Wednesday, October 29, 2003, at 12:32  PM, Mary Bryhan wrote:

> Histonetters,
>
> I would like to set the record straight since I seemed to ruffle 
> Hadi's feathers.
>
> Our institution does not perform FISH, but we do send them to Mayo 
> Clinic in Rochester.  We do our own immunohistochemistry and so far 
> the only antibody that we have not been able to work up on Prefer 
> fixed tissues is the TTF1.
>
> We have great results using Prefer fixative and I believe in this 
> product.  I believe that it does take an open mind, and a willingness 
> on both staff and pathologists to work through the changes.
>
> Mary Bryhan HT (ASCP)
> Team Leader Anatomic Pathology
> Northern Michigan Hospital
> Petoskey, MI
>
>
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