[Histonet] New cryostat validation procedure

[Tony Henwood (SCHN)]

Hi Greg,

I would just grab some kidneys from the butcher, freeze and section as usual. They should give equivalent results to the older unit.

Regards
Tony Henwood JP, MSc, BAppSc, GradDipSysAnalys, CT(ASC), FFSc(RCPA)
Principal Scientist, the Children’s Hospital at Westmead
Adjunct Fellow, School of Medicine, University of Western Sydney
Tel: 612 9845 3306
Fax: 612 9845 3318
Pathology Department
the children's hospital at westmead
Cnr Hawkesbury Road and Hainsworth Street, Westmead
Locked Bag 4001, Westmead NSW 2145, AUSTRALIA

________________________________________
From: Greg Dobbin via Histonet <histonet at lists.utsouthwestern.edu>
Sent: Monday, 23 August 2021 22:16
To: histonet at lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Subject: [Histonet] New cryostat validation procedure

Hello experts!
I would like to find out what others have done to validate a new cryostat.
I believe it would basically be the same as validating a new microtome
except specimens (ie blocks) are plentiful for microtomy whereas for us,
fresh tissue for cryosectioning is not readily available.

Background:
We are an acute care hospital and we only get about 50 intraoperative
consult requests per year. Our older unit is still functional so I can do
side-by-side comparisons with the new unit. Our frozens are only stained
for H&E and a very rare (one every couple of years) Oil Red O.

So I have two questions:

   1. Can I use formalin-fixed tissue soaked overnight in a saturated
   sucrose solution for the validation? This seems reasonable since I can do
   side-by-side with the older unit. {autopsy tissue could be an option if the
   timing coincided with our validation but Murphy's Law will probably prevent
   this option! lol}

   2. How many tissues would be satisfactory? Is one specimen of each of
   our typical frozen specimen types enough? We typically get: ovary, thyroid,
   skin and lymph node. Any other tissue type would be rare.

I look forward to hearing from you!
Thank you,
Greg

--
*Greg Dobbin*
1205 Pleasant Grove Rd
RR#2 York,
PE      C0A 1P0


*Everything in moderation...even moderation itself**!*
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