[Histonet] Staining vs. paraffin wax problems

[Doug Showers]

I would suggest you send your recycled xylene for testing; the manufacturer
of your recycler should be able to recommend several. I suspect water in the
xylene (I have seen it cause this issue on the processor) or inadequate
drying of the slides before deparaffinization. Any water droplets left on the
slide will not be removed by the xylene on the stainer leaving tiny round
areas in the tissue that still have paraffin in them. The hematoxylin and
eosin will not fully stain these areas, but the xylene at the end of the H&E
stain will remove this residual wax.

Doug Showers, MS, HT
Histology Manager
ProPath
8267 Elmbrook Dr. Suite 100
Dallas, TX 75247
214-237-1680
214-422-3083 Mobile
214-237-1706 FAX
 
 
To learn more about ProPath, please visit http://www.ProPathLab.com
 
-----Original Message-----
From: histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
[mailto:histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of Jason McGough
Sent: Friday, March 27, 2009 11:27 AM
To: histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Subject: [Histonet] Staining vs. paraffin wax problems

We are experiencing difficulties with our H&E staining and other Special
Stains. After the slides are stained the edges of the tissue look
fragmented/chattered. Our pathologists also thought the sections looked like
they might be too thick but we checked all of our microtomes for thickness
settings and all are set at 4 micrometers. There seems to be several
blotches of light staining throughout the tissue. This seems to be only on
our small biopsies. We use McCormick Paraplast Extra for paraffin wax.
Another bit information is that we recycle all of our xylene.

Is this a deparaffinization, processing, or a staining issue? Any help is
appreciated.

Jason McGough HT(ASCP)
Account Representative - Anatomic Pathology
Clinical Laboratory of the Black Hills
2805 5th Street Suite 210
Rapid City, SD 57701
605-343-2267 Ext 127
605-718-3779 (Fax)
jmcgough <@t> clinlab.com





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