[Histonet] Nuclear "Artifact"

Wed Apr 22 12:39:48 CDT 2015

I have experience the over-cooked, dried out look a few times myself through the years and it can be baffeling especially when pathologists tell you things look "dried out".  The first thing we think of it too much exposure to heat/chemical when its almost always not enough exposure to xylene at the deparaffinization stage or the tissue is underprocessed. Both of these scenarios can make tissue looked dried out. Make sure your protocols are adequate for processing thickness. Then there are the varying paraffin compounds.  the higher the polymer content the more time you need in xylene....I know it sounds crazy but increase your time in xylene prior to staining and you will see alot of your random staining issues disappear.

Kari Kienitz HT, (ASCP)
Histology Laboratory
Gastroenterology-EAST
The Oregon Clinic
1111 NE 99th Ave
Portland, OR  97220
503.935.8311
kkienitz <@t> orclinic.com

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From: histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu [histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of Patrick Laurie [foreightl <@t> gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, April 22, 2015 9:10 AM
To: Michael Ann Jones
Cc: histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu; Lisa Roy
Subject: Re: [Histonet] Nuclear "Artifact"

At a previous job, we found (this was specific to prostate biopsies) that
one of our clients was taking the prostate biopsies out, lining them up on
a dry paper towel, doing the whole procedure, then putting them into the
formalin jars.  It can be some time between the start and finish of a
procedure, so the first couple were looking very dried out (paper towel
absorbed most of the moisture) with very pale hematoxylin staining.  The
pathologist found them almost uninterpretable. When this happened, the
first natural area we examined was processing, which in this case turned
out not to be the culprit.  Collection procedures are not usually done by
lab staff, a clinician or staff may have a great idea to make things easier
but not know the downstream effects.

Patrick Laurie(HT)ASCP QIHC

Histology Manager

Celligent Diagnostics, LLC

101 East W.T. Harris Blvd  | Suite 1212 | Charlotte, NC 28262

Work: 704-970-3300  Cell: 704-266-0869

On Wed, Apr 22, 2015 at 10:02 AM, Michael Ann Jones <mjones <@t> metropath.com>
wrote:

> Happy Lab Week!!
> We worked on our H&E for almost two years. We were using Leica H&E
> products and after 2 years of struggling, adjusting and analyzing
> everything in our lab - we switched to the Richard-Allen Scientific
> products. We were seeing variability between days of staining, tissues
> right next to each other, nuclear paleness, eosin uniformity instead of
> differentiated, etc. Switching reagents helped us tremendously - we have
> more consistent higher quality stains on a daily basis and within tissues.
>
> I you¹re struggling and have analyzed your processors, etc. to death -
> maybe try different reagents? (we even measured the tap water that we use
> on our stainer daily, the pH of reagents every other hour etc. and between
> 5 experienced histotechs, we couldn¹t figure it out)
> Good luck! :)
>
> Michael Ann
> Michael Ann Jones, HT (ASCP)
> Histology Manager
> Metropath
> 7444 W. Alaska Dr. #250
> Lakewood, CO 80226
> 303.634.2511
> Mjones <@t> metropath.com
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On 4/21/15, 5:55 PM, "Sue" <suetp918 <@t> comcast.net> wrote:
>
> >OMG we are experiencing the same issue. At first it was just GI and now
> >we are seeing it on prostate. One pathologist said it looks like the
> >tissue has been cooked. The only issue is we can have two biopsies right
> >next to one another in the basket one looks good and one looks bad. My
> >director also thinks it is the processors. I had Thermo out and they
> >could find nothing. We changed out all the reagents and the biopsies were
> >fine than two days later we had some bad ones. I know in July Fisher had
> >a formalin recall associated to the mixture of buffer, water and
> >formalin. We thought that might be it but it is now almost a year later
> >and all the bad formalin should be gone. The histotechs say the tissue is
> >crunchy and they are right. I am running a test tonight of a small needle
> >biopsy that I made from a colon. I placed it is straight formaldehyde
> >overnight and am processing it on our biopsy cycle tonight. My director
> >also wanted us to only put three levels on our Thermo, but he wanted the
> >middle level to have empty baskets. I stopped that today because I think
> >the other issue is that the poor biopsies may be on the top level and as
> >the reagents are used the level changes, and also due to displacement
> >with the middle level being empty the reagent levels may not reach the
> >top. We just do not have the manpower to inspect every reagent every day,
> >we have 6 processor and it would take a tech all day. We actually take a
> >digital picture when they come out of the processor. I want to check my
> >problems cases tomorrow. We do not use sponges but the only other like
> >was the PA who was wrapping the blue paper very tight around the tissue.
> >I really do not think this is the issue though.. Any other insight would
> >be greatly appreciated.
> >
> >Susan T. Paturzo
> >TJUH
> >_______________________________________________
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> >Histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
> >http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet
>
>
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