[Histonet] B Plus fixative on bone marrow cores

[Lee & Peggy Wenk]

One of my students, a few years ago, tried several different zinc formalins
from different companies, on bone marrow biopsies. At 2 hours fixation, we
saw a lot of smudgy, pale baby blue nuclei. At 3 hours, we were seeing
nuclear detail of the usual hematoxylin blue. 4 hours was slightly better,
but our pathologists thought that the slight improvement wasn't needed to
make a diagnosis - they could do it just as well at 3 hours, and it saved an
hour. It didn't matter which zinc formalin we used, 3 hours seemed to be the
key. So we now make 3 hours as the minimum.

Peggy A. Wenk, HTL(ASCP)SLS
Beaumont Hospital
Royal Oak, MI 48073

-----Original Message-----
From: histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
[mailto:histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of Della
Speranza, Vinnie
Sent: Thursday, September 24, 2009 6:07 PM
To: Histonet
Subject: [Histonet] B Plus fixative on bone marrow cores

I would appreciate comments from anyone using this fixative for bone marrow
cores. Specifically I am interested in learning how long you are fixing your
samples in B Plus.
Manufacturer recommends "at least two hours" but we are seeing artifacts
that concern me that 2 hrs may be insufficient.

Vinnie Della Speranza
Manager for Anatomic Pathology Services
165 Ashley Avenue Suite 309
Charleston, SC 29425
tel. 843-792-6353
fax. 843-792-8974
 



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