[Histonet] Cytology

[Joe Myers]


Ms. Heckford:
As a cytotechnologist with just a little more than average experience with immunostaining procedures, I’d like to offer my input.   To my knowledge, there are very few publications that address your concerns.  I have, however, collected/prepared a significant amount of information on this topic, and I’m happy to share it with you.  To address your specific questions: 1) When performing immunocytochemical (ICC) staining procedures, it’s always a good idea to use charged slides, since that will help with cellular retention; 2) specimen material should always be fixed, preferably in 95% ethanol (i.e. air-drying should be avoided); and 3) if you plan on routinely performing ICC, you’ll need to fully validate such procedures, particularly since antibodies that are characterized for IHC will not work in the same manner as they would in ICC.  If you’d like, I’d be happy to share with you a PowerPoint presentation that I’ve given on several occasions relating to this topic.
Cheers,
Joe Myers, M.S., CT/QIHC(ASCP)

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Date: Wed, 5 Aug 2020 15:34:28 +0000
From: "Heckford, Karen - SMMC-SF" <Karen.Heckford at DignityHealth.org>
To: "histonet at lists.utsouthwestern.edu"
   <histonet at lists.utsouthwestern.edu>
Subject: [Histonet] Cytology

Good Morning,
I rarely do Special stains or IHC's on Cytology cytospins or thin prep type slides.    Should these slides be charged, air dried or fixed in 95% alcohol before doing Special stains or IHC's on them?

Is there a good book or some sort of publication on cytology procedures regarding the above mentioned.   I have tried and look it up and it seems all over the place on what to do.

Any help would be greatly appreciated,

Karen Heckford HT ASCP CE
Lead Histology Technician
St. Mary's Medical Center
450 Stanyan St.
San Francisco, Ca. 94117
415-668-1000 ext. 6167
karen.heckford at dignityhealth.org<mailto:karen.heckford at dignityhealth.org>