[Histonet] number of slides

[Shea's]

1. Most bxs we cut 2 levels (one level/slide, no more than 2 sections/slide). 

2. Prostate bx are unique. Our Urologists love us and send color coded bxs in 2 containers (Left & Right, yellow = apex, green = midgland, red= transition, blue = base). We then are able to place all bxs in a total of 2 cassettes instead of 8 if submitted separately. We still charge cpt code 88305 x 8 because each specimen is identified and there are still 8 separate diagnosis on the report, but it saves a lot of time, and slides as you can imagine. For these we will cut about 3 long ribbons and pick up serial sections labeled 1 - 10. We H&E stain level 1, 5 & 10 and save all others for PIN 4 if needed.

3. Only on bxs that tend to get requests for immunos/special stains (cx bx for p16 & k-67 or GIs for H. Pylori), we will cut 6-10 slides. Stain the first, last & middle, then save all others for immunos, for good pt care. It may sound like a waste of time/slides, but we do not want to cut through to level 3, then find out that an immuno is needed on level 1.

Unlike other labs, our pathologists do not want to see a slide with more than 2 serial sections on a it, from the same level (that is just redundant).  They also prefer 2 slides for 2 levels and 3 slides for 3 levels (just in case one is sent out or broken).

Our Pathologists definitely have the final decision as to how they want their slides, after all, it is their name on the report. We all work very well together, so we discuss what works best for the good of the patient, pathologists and techs, then keep it consistent for all Pathologists. It gets too crazy when each Pathologist wants slides a different way.

It will be interesting to see what others are doing.
Jan