[Histonet] Validating slides

[Sharon Scalise]

I am looking for comments about validating slides in histology/immuno.  We have always validated our charged slides if we went to a new brand/vendor in order to ensure that the tissue sections will adhere properly during immuno procedures and certain special stains.  Once we found them to be acceptable, we continue to use them, lot to lot, and never validate as long as we do not change brand/vendor.  We recently ran into a problem with slides that we received by accident (similar packaging, different slide) and they were used for some immuno cases.  The sections on many of the slides fell off and the stains had to be repeated.  We realized the problem and pulled the slides out of service.  We contacted the vendor and they said that those slides should have been pulled from the shelf, that it was a bad batch and they should have never been sent to anyone, yet alone incorrectly sent to us.
I started to think that we might want to consider validating new lots we receive to ensure that each lot is acceptable.  As we began this discussion there were people who felt that in any lot you could have slides that are acceptable and maybe some boxes that give you problems.  How do you know if all slides in one lot are treated exactly the same?  Can you really use lot number to verify quality when it comes to slides?  I am not exactly sure of the process used to "charge" the slides so I don't feel qualified to answer these questions.
What is everyone else doing about slide validation?  Is it really necessary? (I can say that in 30 years I have never seen it done with each new lot, but I have been at the same job for the past 18 years).

Thanks for your input!

Sharon Scalise, HTL(ASCP)
Histology Supervisor-Anatomic Pathology
Beaumont Health System
3601 W. 13 Mile Rd.
Royal Oak, MI 48073
248 898-5981
sscalise <@t> beaumont.edu<mailto:sscalise <@t> beaumont.edu>