[Histonet] Formalin smell in the last paraffin station in vip 6 tissue tek

[Tony Henwood (SCHN)]

Also check the last alcohol and xylene.
Has someone accidentally replaced these solution with formalin by mistake?

Regards 
Tony Henwood JP, MSc, BAppSc, GradDipSysAnalys, CT(ASC), FFSc(RCPA) 
Laboratory Manager & Senior Scientist, the Children’s Hospital at Westmead
Adjunct Fellow, School of Medicine, University of Western Sydney 
Tel: 612 9845 3306 
Fax: 612 9845 3318 
Pathology Department
the children's hospital at westmead
Cnr Hawkesbury Road and Hainsworth Street, Westmead
Locked Bag 4001, Westmead NSW 2145, AUSTRALIA 


-----Original Message-----
From: histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu [mailto:histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of Cooper, Brian
Sent: Wednesday, 26 November 2014 5:17 AM
To: Arun Jyothi S.P; histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Subject: RE: [Histonet] Formalin smell in the last paraffin station in vip 6 tissue tek

Not sure if it's the same scenario, but this happened to us once about a dozen years ago on an older version of a VIP.  Luckily, I haven't seen this again!  

One of our lab assistants loaded a basket of formalin-fixed tissues onto a processor that hadn't yet been through the clean cycle.  The machine wouldn't let him start the process, so he took the basket out and put it back into formalin to wait while he ran the clean cycle.  For that brief moment that the basket was in the retort, a bunch of residual formalin drained off the tissues and basket and mixed in with the residual molten paraffin that was left in the bottom of the retort.  Anyway, after he ran the clean cycle he started the run as usual.  8 hours later, our blocks smelled like formalin when we cut them, and they were all "mushy" in texture.   

So Sakura told us that whenever you run the clean cycle, the VIP (again, it was a really old model and I'm not sure if the technology is still the same) will attempt to draw back into the last station that was used, any residual reagent that was left in the retort before proceeding to the next reagent.  Since the last reagent had been paraffin, anything in the retort (including the newly mixed in formalin) went back into the last paraffin chamber on the VIP.  As such, the next basket of tissues were infiltrated with formalin-infused paraffin in the very last processing step.   If I recall, we had to reprocess almost all of those blocks.  

Hope this helps.   

Brian D. Cooper, HT (ASCP)CM | Histology Supervisor Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Children's Hospital Los Angeles bcooper <@t> chla.usc.edu 

-----Original Message-----
From: histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu [mailto:histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of Arun Jyothi S.P
Sent: Monday, November 24, 2014 10:53 PM
To: histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Subject: [Histonet] Formalin smell in the last paraffin station in vip 6 tissue tek

Dear all
After processing in vip 6 the last paraffin has a strong odour of formalin

Have anybody experienced the same
Any ideas why it is happening.

Arun
Kuwait
_______________________________________________
Histonet mailing list
Histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet


---------------------------------------------------------------------
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This e-mail message, including any attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential or legally privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of this original message.  

---------------------------------------------------------------------


*********************************************************************************
This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you are not the intended recipient, please delete it and notify the sender.

Views expressed in this message and any attachments are those of the individual sender, and are not necessarily the views of The Sydney Children's Hospitals Network.

This note also confirms that this email message has been virus scanned and although no computer viruses were detected, The Sydney Childrens Hospital's Network accepts no liability for any consequential damage resulting from email containing computer viruses.
*********************************************************************************