[Histonet] human shoulder joint fixation

[Bob Richmond]

>
> Merissa (where?) asks; >>I am doing some planning for a new project and
> wanted to get opinions on fixation of large pieces of tissue. We will have
> human shoulders, where we want to preserve the rotator cuff/joint. Cutting
> the tissue with a saw will damage the soft tissue, so we were thinking that
> post-fixation would be best for cutting slabs. - Does anyone have
> experience with fixing such large pieces of tissue? We typically use zinc
> buffered formalin for fixation. Would a vacuum work or a vacuum sealer?<<
>

This is a non-trivial problem, and I hope you're working closely with the
pathologist or other investigator who's going to be looking at the slides.

Formalin (forget the zinc) penetrates tissue slowly enough that you're not
going to get very good fixation if you put the whole specimen in fixative
and forget about it for a week or two. Some preliminary dissection is
needed to aid fixation, and you're going to need some serious help with
that.

A valuable resource person on Histonet is John Kiernan, a pathologist
turned research anatomist, and an expert on histologic technique. I hope he
responds, otherwise try to find him.

Bob Richmond
Samurai Pathologist
Maryville TN