[Histonet] Histonet Digest, Vol 140, Issue 6 Specimen loss

[Richard Yeo]

Steve,
I totally agree that 7% tissue loss is extremely high.
Saying that when you have an experienced pathologist that looks at a specimen and only sees mucoid material he knows that it is most likely that the reagents in the processor are going to dissolve it.
We have a very low rate of loss, probably one to two blocks per thousand processed. That's.01-.02%.
No one wants to lose any tissue specimen and put the patient through it again but it happens.

Rich Y

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jul 8, 2015, at 1:50 PM, Steve McClain <SteveM at mcclainlab.com> wrote:
> 
> My goodness 7% tissue loss is ridiculous.
> What fool published that?
> 
> A 0.8% "loss of tissue" is beyond me.
> Would any one advertise in the local paper that your center of excellence lab loses nearly 1% of your specimens?
> 
> "possibly too small to survive processing" is in my opinion, a self-fulfilling prophesy, 
> one to be eschewed and denounced, 
> or beaten out of the grosser who dares use that description for it is an expectation of failure.
> That grosser would not last a week around me.
> I would walk them to the train station and ask them not to return.
> 
> I felt less cantankerous before I read that one. 
> Steve A. McClain, MD
> 631 361 4000
> ****
> 
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