[Histonet] Cryostat disinfection

[Anne Van Binsbergen]

Surely universal precautions apply - all specimens should be treated the same - fresh specimens are all potentially hazardous. 
Common sense should prevail. 

In an HIV/TB infested country - where I come from - we had 'panic stations' if we knew the status of the patient(HIV/TB +ve), and everyone donned as much protective gear as they could find!!! - but everyone seemed to forget the first few frozens of the day, where we did not know the HIV/TB status - did that make those specimens less infectious/dangerous??? NO!!!

If you have only one cryostat and have frequent frozens you need to take a slightly different approach - educate your surgeons and pathologists - do imprints and smears where possible - switching off, defrosting and cleaning a cryostat will cripple this sort of lab.
In my current lab I have 3 cryostats and few frozens and (lucky for me) have relatively 'safe' patients, so I can afford to defrost on a rotational basis. Not everyone is as fortunate. 
Just my opinion
Annieinarabia
 

-----Original Message-----
From: histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu [mailto:histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of Rene J Buesa
Sent: Monday, July 10, 2006 4:45 PM
To: donna rossi; histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Subject: Re: [Histonet] Cryostat disinfection

Donna:
  Regardless of the amount of frozen cases, the fundamental criteria is the type of specimen.
  Do you cryosection TB cases or any which are a potential contamination source? If so you should disinfect the cryostat after each one of those cases.
  CAP recommends shutting down and cleaning weekly because the probability of having those types of cases on a weekly basis.
  Being a small facility I think that you should prepare a schedule based on usage of the cryostat or even better, ask CAP if they have some "latitude" regarding small facilities.
  CAP is always willing to answer.
  I hope this will help.
  René J.

donna rossi <djmr55 <@t> hotmail.com> wrote:
  
Here we go again! According to CAP we are to be shutting down the
cryostat and disinfecting it every week for cryostats that are used
daily. How often should it be shut down if it is used perhaps once a
week? Do you determine this by number of frozens being done or type
of tissue being cut or just pick a time frame? We are a small
hospital and this will impact our work flow but if CAP says it must be
so thennnnnnnnnnnnnn. Your help is greatly appreciated.
Donna ,
Sharon Reg Health System
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