[Histonet] Expired Stains

[Bill B.]

At 10:57 AM -0700 10/26/05, Heckford, Karen - SMMC-SF wrote:
>Hi Everyone,  I was wondering if anyone knows how JCAHO views expired
>Special Stains.  I have some expired Special Stains.  We do low volume,
>trying to use up some stains before they expire can be difficult.

In the name of controlling medical costs... We verify the stains by 
performing them on standard controls of tissues they might be used 
for and document the findings. We place a sticker with a new exp date 
for 6 months on the bottles and jars. Of course every stain has a 
control on the same slide which provides another verification. We are 
not JCAHO.

I have jars of methylene blue and gold chloride powder from the '50's 
which work beautifully today, not that we use them much. I keep them 
with my antique collection so the inspectors dont bitch about expired 
reagents.

In the early 80's I made my own anti-GFAP from human spinal cords, 
before it was commercially available. It was put in microtubes stored 
in a Revco. It is still giving strong specific staining. I am not 
using this on human material, though it would work fine.

I am sure the manufacturers are strongly against this and lobby the 
feds heavily.

BB