[Histonet] Bone marrow clot IHC tissue sections washing

[Martha Ward-Pathology]

It was brought to my attention that we had significant washing on  3 of 8 bone marrow clot sections the other day; this is not the first time so we would like to get to the bottom of this.   We use positively charged slides and all 8 cases were cut and run the same morning but allowed to air dry and then bake at 60C for 20 minutes before being run on our Bond 3 stainer.   Has anyone out there experienced this type of problem and if so, what were your solutions?    The repeat of the 3 cases today showed similar washing of tissue.

This hasn't just started but has occurred periodically but the pathologists have tried to live with it and usually we can finally get enough tissue to stay on after 1-2 attempts.   Suggestions include cutting and drying the slides overnight and/or going to a gelatinated  slide versus a sialylated slide.   We have been using this particular brand of positive charged slide with good results for several years and rarely have issues with other tissue types unless they are particularly bloody.

Thoughts or suggestions are greatly appreciated.


Martha Ward MT(ASCP) QIHC
Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist