[Histonet] microwave tissue

[Vickroy, Jim]

We have just noticed an issue with our small biopsies lately.   We are processing most of the small biopsies by a microwave processor.   We finished our validation process about a couple of weeks ago and found little difference between the microwave processed tissue verses conventional processing.   Now the pathologists are telling us that the nuclei do not seem as sharp and crisp as before.   They of course think that the lack of sharpness is due to microwaving but obviously there are other issues to consider.  We stain all of our biopsies on an automated stainer.  Tomorrow we will again run some biopsies on the microwave and some on the  conventional processor and see if there are any noticeable difference.  Obviously if we see that the microwave tissue is not as crisp then we may need to adjust our microwave processing program.    Another variable however was added about two weeks ago.  We switched from Citrisolve to Clearite III on our stainer.    Has anybody experienced similar issues with Clearite III on their automated stainer?  Any other ideas?

James Vickroy BS, HT(ASCP)

Surgical  and Autopsy Pathology Technical Supervisor
Memorial Medical Center
217-788-4046


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