[Histonet] Embedding W/WO Melted Paraffin

[Laurie Colbert]

We put our cassettes in the reservoir "dry."  As long as the reservoir is warm enough and you keep the lid closed, the cassettes will stay warm and melted.

Laurie Colbert
Huntington Hospital
Pasadena, CA

-----Original Message-----
From: DMBCMP <@t> aol.com [mailto:DMBCMP <@t> aol.com]
Sent: Tuesday, January 20, 2004 7:37 PM
To: histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Subject: [Histonet] Embedding W/WO Melted Paraffin


Hi, everyone:
In order to settle a difference of opinion between generations of trained 
Histotechs in my lab, may I have feedback from anyone interested in responding?
Do you cover the blocks in melted paraffin in the embedding centre reservior 
and hold them that way while embedding? or....
Do you dump them in the warm reservior "dry" (not covered in melted paraffin) 
and embed them that way?
Do you consider this "dry" method as bad technique since a tiny biopsy 
specimen MAY not be noticed as the paraffin quickly solidifies?
We have a dispute.  I have researched every book I can find and there is no 
reference to it anywhere.  A newly trained tech that came to work for us said 
no mention was made during her training period.  Some techs did...and some 
didn't. As a tech of nearly 27 years, I find this practice to be just asking for 
trouble.  I was trained to keep everything melted.  There seems to be some 
argument against keeping the cassettes in the melted paraffin, claiming it "cooks" 
the biopsies.  I don't buy it, but what are the opinions of others?
It seems so basic to me.  I hope this does not come across as frivilous.  
Thanks for your input.

Dannie Blake HT(ASCP)  Histology Lead Tech
Fresno Community Medical Centre
Fresno, California

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