[Histonet] Losing tissue on IHC slides

[Deloris Carter]

Hi all,
I'm looking for some troubleshooting help.  In the last couple of months
we've been having an increasing trend in losing tissue from our IHC
slides.  We use a Ventana Benchmark XT.  PM is done on it quarterly.  The
problem seems to be with the patient tissue, not the control tissue.  We
use Fisherbrand Superfrost Plus slides, picking up the control by dipping
the top end of the slide to avoid "double dipping".  We use tap water in
the waterbaths which I know could cause an issue, but that's the way it's
always been done here, so there's been no change to that part of the
procedure. (We did try using DI water, but it didn't make any difference.
Tissue still fell off of slides.) We do use DI water to mix the bulk
reagents.The control slides may sometimes have been cut for a longer than
recommended time, but that part of the procedure hasn't changed either,
same process as always.  If we run separate slides for control and patient
tissue, we get much better results, but still have some tissue loss.  I
can't say it's all of our tests, but it is a steadily worsening problem.
I'm going through tons of reagent, and I can't seem to nail down the
problem.  Ventana rep said to try DI water, don't double dip, try adhesive
slides (which didn't really make any difference that we could tell).  I
would appreciate any suggestions
Deloris Carter
Shawnee Mission Medical Center