[Histonet] Cautery-Like Artefact

[Beth Brinegar]

How long is your overnight processing run? Are these specimens being
processed on an eight hour run, a four hour run, or something like a rapid
run?

On Monday, August 19, 2013, Roger Heyna wrote:

> We are experiencing a staining artefact on our H&E's, most commonly seen
> on skin specimens, but also observed on other specimen types as well.
>
> Within the dermis and subcutaneous regions of the skin specimens, there
> are portions of what should be collagen that appear homogenized and stained
> with hematoxylin, instead of the
> usual eosin staining. It's often on the edge of the section and varies in
> size between different specimens. The pathologist is normally able to read
> around it, but there have been cases that were made more difficult to
> diagnosis by this artefact.
>
> Our pathologists believe this artefact resembles cautery artefact, but the
> dermatologists insist they are not using cautery during collection.
>
> We have a large derm service, and most of our derm specimens fix
> overnight. We have both microwave and conventional processing, and the
> "artefact" specimens have been processed on both. All of these specimens
> have grossing ink on them.
>
> Any thoughts on what could be causing this? If it's not cautery, does it
> seem like a fixation issue? Has anyone seen grossing ink affect processing?
>
> Thanks ahead of time for your help.
> Roger
>


-- 
Beth Brinegar HTL(ASCP)
Anatomic Pathology Supervisor
Mercy Medical Center
Cedar Rapids, IA 52403