[Histonet] : Paraffin block disposal

[Cooper, Brian]

At this institution, we cite CAP's guidelines (ANP.12500) in our retention policy as a minimum of 10 year retention, prior to disposal of patient tissues.  In practice we go further than that--we've never discarded a patient's blocks.  The only thing we ever gotten rid of was animal research tissues, and even then, sparingly.  They make great practice tissue blocks for histology students! 

Brian Cooper
CHLA

-----Original Message-----
From: Mayer,Toysha N [mailto:TNMayer at mdanderson.org] 
Sent: Monday, June 08, 2015 7:02 AM
To: 'histonet at lists.utsouthwestern.edu'
Subject: Re: [Histonet] : Paraffin block disposal

The regulation says two years.  I was always led to believe that for Pedi, it should 10 years past the age of 18.  Some facilities add the phrase 'past sign out'  onto the policy for disposal.  The methods can vary according to facility and state.  In some places that could mean in the trash, in others biohazard waste.  If confused check with another long standing facility  and a newer one in the area to get an idea of what should be done.  I have usually placed them in the biohazard trash, so that there would be no issues with anything.  

Sincerely,

Toysha N. Mayer, D.H.Sc., MBA, HT (ASCP) Instructor/Education Coordinator Program in Histotechnology School of Health Professions UT M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
713.563-3481

Message: 1
Date: Sat, 6 Jun 2015 10:24:42 -0700
From: Aimee Tolentino <a.tolentino82 at gmail.com>
To: "Arbaugh, Roberta" <rarbaugh at csdermatology.com>
Cc: "histonet at lists.utsouthwestern.edu"
	<histonet at lists.utsouthwestern.edu>
Subject: Re: [Histonet] Paraffin block disposal
Message-ID: <1F36ABA5-452B-4556-8D1E-E5D09FDB22FC at gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset=us-ascii

That's a good question. I'd like to know the answer myself to that. :)

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jun 5, 2015, at 12:54 PM, Arbaugh, Roberta <rarbaugh at csdermatology.com> wrote:
> 
> Per CLIA we only need to keep paraffin blocks two years. What is the proper way to dispose of them?
> 
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