[Histonet] Thyroid Smears

[JMyers1 <@t> aol.com]

Fawn:
Fixation of exceptionally 'fluid' cytologic specimens, like many thyroid 
aspirates, through a submersion technique will nearly always result in a 
significant loss of material from the slides.  And less important than the loss 
of what appears to be blood is the loss of thyroid epithelial cells/tissue 
fragments.  If the amount of blood in the specimen appears, grossly, to be 
'excessive', then, as Debbie suggested, adding PlasmaLyte to the fluid prior to 
smear preparation is a very practical option.
 
Assuming that the smears will be Pap-stained, then the best way to prepare 
them is to express one or two drops of the aspirate onto a slide, spread the 
material using another slide, spray-fix both smears with (a 
commercially-prepared solution containing primarily) ethanol, and then air dry them 
thoroughly before staining.  And if some of the smears will be immuno-stained in a 
protocol designed/validated for histologic material, these slides may be 
spray-fixed with 10% formalin instead of ethanol.
Good Luck,
 
Joe Myers, M.S., CT(ASCP)QIHC


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Message: 9
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2011 09:33:06 -0500
From: Fawn Bomar <Fawn.Bomar <@t> HalifaxRegional.com>
Subject: [Histonet] Thyroid Smears
To: "histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu"

Hello Everyone!

Happy New Years to all!  I have a question regarding the preparation of 
thyroid smears.  As of right now, we go up to the room and collect the thyroid 
sample.  The Pathologist makes the smears in the room and immediately puts 
them into 95% Isopropanol to fix.  We then complete the stain later on in the 
day.  The problem that we are encountering is that all of the blood and 
cells are coming off of the slides before we make it through the entire stain.  
Does anyone have any suggestions or are willing to share the procedure that 
they use?  We had a couple of suggestions that we recommended to the Doctor 
but they were dismissed. I don't want to tell what are suggestions were so 
that the doctor cannot accuse us of influencing every one else's opinions.

Thank you in advance,
Fawn