[Histonet] Ventana Benchmark Problems

[Joe Nocito]

yes and it's not even Friday yet.
Hey Doc,
we have 3 of these "great" machines and it drives us nuts also. Make it a 
point, in fact, demand that an engineering rep come out. We have had items 
replaced such as the vortex mixer, heating pads, the entire carousel many 
times, yet for some strange reason, we keep getting more and more.
    The big thing now is we switched to their polymer detection kit and you 
talk about fits. All our slides have a hit and miss on staining endogenous 
peroxidase. Our rabbit and mouse negative controls stain as brightly as our 
primaries. Yes, we had two "wiz" kids out and I was not impressed. A senior 
specialist is coming to my lab to figure out the problem. You see me holding 
my breath.
    I told the group not to go ahead with the Ventana machines, but they 
blew me off. Said I had an attitude problem because I was screwed over when 
I was at Wilford Hall. Gee, maybe I was on to something. Now, we are in so 
deep we'll never get out.
    If it was my lab, I would have went with Biocare's Nemesis, but like I 
said, it's not my lab.
    If you can change machines, I would. Save yourself a lot of headache and 
money.
    Now, I expect all the Ventana reps and their lawyers to contact my CEO 
tomorrow. Go ahead, make my day. Save yourself the phone call. Whatever I 
said here, I will say in court too.
    Of course, the opinion expressed by me is not the opinion of my 
pathologists, CEO, their lawyers, their wives, off spring, their off spring 
and their dogs and cats.

Joe Nocito BS, PA, HT(ASCP)QIHC
Histology Manager
Pathology Reference Lab
San Antonio, TX
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bates Robert R Maj MIL USAF 96 MDSS/SGSAH" 
<robert.bates <@t> eglin.af.mil>
To: <histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, October 18, 2006 2:23 PM
Subject: [Histonet] Ventana Benchmark Problems


> Hello,
>
>
>
> We have a Ventana Benchmark that has been giving my histotechs fits. 
> There
> are times when the staining is hit or miss.  Other times the controls will
> not stain properly but the specimen tissue does or visa versa.  We have
> troubleshot the machine numerous times without success.  We call the aid
> line and do the things they recommend and it 'may' work for a while and 
> then
> it reverts back to the hit or miss schedule.  We have tried random tissue
> sections that have know positive properties (such as smooth muscle tissue
> stained with smooth muscle actin) and even observed internal tissue 
> controls
> to see if they react properly.  Has anyone else had this type of problem
> with this machine?  Any ideas or suggestions would be most welcome.
>
>
>
> Dr. Robert R. Bates Jr
>
> Florida
>
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