[Histonet] Re: Problems with processors and dehydration

[Donna Millard]

It does sound like your processor is faulty, but the culprit may be contaminated lines. If you were skipping stations, having clogged lines, this could have occurred. We had an issue where a tech forgot to drain the retort after a warm-water flush, but refilled the empty container. When the next person loading the processor saw the retort was full and drained it (without seeing the bottle was no longer empty), we backed up into other lines. I initially only cleaned the lines that I thought were effected and refilled and checked all of the bottles using a hydrometer, and then had a processing issue similar to what you are describing-underprocessed. We did a complete change of reagents and still had the issue. I had to thouroughly clean all of the alcohol and xylene lines with 100% alcohol to fix the problem. If the processor is faulty and causing contamination, cleaning the lines once isn't going to fix the problem, but it's a possible explanation, especially if the last alcohol or the xylenes are contaminated with any water.

Donna Millard
Director of Anatomic Pathology
Physicians Reference Laboratory, LLC
7800 W. 110th Street,Overland Park, KS  66210
Direct: 913-339-0485
Fax: 913-319-4156

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