[Histonet] Pap stain without xylene

[Beth Cox]

Mike,

As an alternative for your discussion:

I work on medical mission trips where I run Paps in a field setting.  For the past 4 years, we have not had access to xylene, and we have done the following:

1. Remove slides from the last alcohol after staining
2. Allow to air dry completely (generally only takes a few minutes)
3. Use standard mounting media to coverslip them dry.

This works beautifully.  Microscopically they look the same as xylene cleared slides.  The only caveat is that they must dry completely.

-- 
*BETH COX, HTL/SCT(ASCP)QIHC*
AP Consultant | Pathology Solutions, Inc | (810) 240-2190 | bethcoxx at gmail.com


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Message: 6
Date: Tue, 24 May 2016 17:08:51 -0500
From: Mike Toole<mtoole at dcol.net>
To:"histonet at lists.utsouthwestern.edu"
	<histonet at lists.utsouthwestern.edu>
Subject: [Histonet] Pap stain without xylene
Message-ID: <31530E35E0BAB044B3B56B7FE5CF4EB33E1B2A3240 at mail>
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Ren? and other Histonetters,


After reading the paper:



Buesa RJ, Peshkov, MV. Histology without xylene. Ann Diagn Pathol. 2009 Aug;13(4):246-56. Epub 2009 Feb 5.



It appears that xylene in the final clearing steps is replaced with isopropanol and mineral oil as follows:

?        5:1         isopropanol to mineral oil             50?C

?        2:1         isopropanol to mineral oil             50?C

?        Undiluted mineral oil                                     50?C

?        Drying oven 5 minutes                                   60?C

?        Coverslip



Do you feel these clearing steps be applied to the pap stain in order to eliminate xylene?  If so, can it be done at room temperature?

Thanks,
Mike

Mike Toole, BS, CT(ASCP)CM