[Histonet] Re: paraffin problem

[patsy ruegg]

I agree Samurai, the better paraffin and disposable knives have changed
paraffin sectioning forever for better.
Patsy  
-----Original Message-----
From: histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
[mailto:histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of
rsrichmond <@t> aol.com
Sent: Thursday, December 07, 2006 11:37 AM
To: histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Subject: [Histonet] Re: paraffin problem

Several people comment on problems with present day embedding waxes
("paraffin").
 
Geezer time. In the more than forty years I've been a pathologist, one of
the biggest improvements in technology has been the replacement of simple
paraffin waxes with the present proprietary mixtures. In the 1960's, many
laboratories simply bought Gulfwax - the wax used by home canners to seal
canning jars. For quite a few years now complex mixtures of who knows what
have replaced simple paraffin. These mixtures are all proprietary and
trade-secret, and as far as I know this whole change has been largely
undocumented in the literature. But the improvement in sections that has
resulted has been revolutionary. In the 1960's many laboratories were simply
unable to cut an interpretable section of a lymph node. Frank Foote, then
the chief of surgical pathology at Memorial/Sloan Kettering in New York
city, often observed that most of a surgical pathology consultant's
expertise was in interpreting nearly unreadable slides.
 
Bob Richmond
Samurai Pathologist
Knoxville TN
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