[Histonet] Eosin on processor for biopsies

[Bob Richmond]

Gareth Davis asked about marking small GI specimens with dye when grossing
them.

I've used safranin O - the solution the microbiologists use in the Gram
stain. If you walk down the hall to the micro lab you can get a small
amount to try out.

Do not use eosin for this purpose. Eosin's brilliant fluorescence makes it
very difficult to do any fluorescent stain (such as FISH) on the sections.
Safranin O isn't fluorescent. It also works a lot better than eosin.

Equally important is to log how many specimens you put in the cassette when
you're grossing, and to have that log in front of you when you embed. (I've
had a lot of histotechs flatly refuse to do this.)

I favor those little blue foam pads to put small specimens on. I usually
cut them in two, so that I use a total of only one in each cassette.

Bob Richmond
Samurai Pathologist
Maryville TN