[Histonet] Release of formalin fixed tissue Policy
Terri Braud
tbraud at redeemerhealth.org
Tue Jun 17 15:13:59 CDT 2025
Here is our policy. The form that is signed for the release has a formalin and biohazard warning. No wet tissue is returned to a patient, but only released to a funeral home.
Hope it helps
PURPOSE: To define the types of specimens that may be returned to the patient upon request of the patient and/or
physician, and to provide appropriate warnings via a signed form (AP-39 attached), to the patient and/or physician of possible
biohazard and hazardous chemical exposure.
POLICY: Specimens that may be released to patients are limited to:
A. Gallstones
B. Urinary or salivary calculi
C. Foreign bodies
D. Teeth
E. Surgical Orthopedic Hardware
Specimens that may be released for purposes of burial are as follows:
A. Products of Conception (POC) to funeral director only
B. Any other human tissue to funeral director only
PROCEDURE:
A. A request is received by lab for the return of a specimen to the patient. The request is either written on the
histopathology form received with the specimen or by phone from the OR unit, Floor, patient or physician.
B. The histology technician assigned to gross room is notified as well as the grossing pathologist.
C. Obtain a Request for Return of Specimen to Patient form (AP-39) and complete required information.
D. Prepare specimen as follows and attach form to bag to be read, signed by patient and/or physician and filed with
surgical pathology report.
E. The pathologist or designee retrieves the specimen and places it into a clean plastic container which is labeled
with the patient's name and specimen accession number.
F. Pour a sufficient amount of 100% alcohol over the specimen and agitate container to rinse off excess formalin.
Pour off all 100% (discard alcohol in waste container). Attach lid and place container in paper bag. Label bag
with patient and physician name.
WARNING: All specimens must be formalin fixed prior to return to patient. (Hardware must be placed in
formalin over night). Only those specimens listed above may be returned. No soft tissue will be
returned.
Terri L. Braud, HT(ASCP)
HNL Laboratories for
Holy Redeemer Hospital
1648 Huntingdon Pike
Meadowbrook, PA 19046
Ph: 215-938-3689
Fax: 215-938-2021
Honesty
AccouNtability
AgiLity
CoLlaboration
CoMpassion
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Today's Topics:
1. Formic Acid treatment for b-Amyloid staining
(Cathy M. Mathis/Comparative Medicine)
2. Release of Tissue Policy/ form (Hannen, Valerie)
3. Re: Release of Tissue Policy/ form (richard cartun)
4. Re: Formic Acid treatment for b-Amyloid staining
(Whitaker, Bonnie)
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Message: 1
Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2025 18:30:45 +0000
From: "Cathy M. Mathis/Comparative Medicine" <cmmathis at wakehealth.edu>
To: "histonet at lists.utsouthwestern.edu"
<histonet at lists.utsouthwestern.edu>
Subject: [Histonet] Formic Acid treatment for b-Amyloid staining
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Is there a reason to using formic acid treatment before beta amyloid staining in IHC?? I have only been using a high pH antigen retrieval solution and that works fine for me.
Thank you for your time,
Cathy
Cathy M. Mathis
Research Lab Technician IV
Dept. of Pathology \ Comparative Pathology Lab Wake Forest University School of Medicine p 336.716.1538 cmmathis at wakehealth.edu<mailto:cmmathis at wakehealth.edu>
www.wakehealth.edu<http://www.wakehealth.edu/>
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Message: 2
Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2025 19:52:41 +0000
From: "Hannen, Valerie" <Valerie.Hannen at parrishmed.com>
To: "Histonet at lists.utsouthwestern.edu"
<Histonet at lists.utsouthwestern.edu>
Subject: [Histonet] Release of Tissue Policy/ form
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Good Afternoon all!!
I am hoping someone can share with me their policy and form that is used in accordance of the policy on the subject of releasing tissue per patient request to the patient? We have had a few incident recently where the patient/ family has asked for placenta and or the fetus ( less than 20 weeks gestation).
My concern is that these specimens or any specimen in formalin is the formalin! We have a very old policy and I am not comfortable with it. I would like to use other's policies as a guide (not copy it verbatim). Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated.
TIA.
v/r,
Valerie
Valerie A. Hannen,MLT(ASCP),HTL,SU(FL)
Histology Section Chief
Parrish Medical Center
951 N. Washington Avenue
Titusville, Florida 32796
P: 321-268-6333 Ext. 7506
F: 321-268-6149
valerie.hannen at parrishmed.com<mailto:valerie.hannen at parrishmed.com>
www.parrishmed.com
------------------------------
Message: 3
Date: Tue, 17 Jun 2025 00:20:13 +0000 (UTC)
From: richard cartun <rcartun at sbcglobal.net>
To: "Histonet at lists.utsouthwestern.edu"
<histonet at lists.utsouthwestern.edu>, "Hannen, Valerie"
<valerie.hannen at parrishmed.com>
Subject: Re: [Histonet] Release of Tissue Policy/ form
Message-ID: <844138244.1233291.1750119613619 at mail.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Hi, Valerie!
I worked in Pathology at a hospital here in Connecticut for many years and handled all these requests, sometimes in conjunction with our Legal Department.? The State of Connecticut has a statute that states human tissue can only be handled by medical personnel in hospitals, surgery centers, labs, or funeral homes.? Therefore, we would only release patient specimens that were in formalin (mostly fetuses for burial) to a representative from a funeral home.? The patient or family member would have to contact the funeral home for pickup and pay for all associated charges.? We also had a release form that the requestor and the funeral home would have to complete and sign off on.? ? With the exception of a fetus for burial, these requirements almost always resulted in patients canceling their initial request.? I also found that speaking with the requester and educating them on this issue helped, too.? For example, many towns have ordinances that prohibit burying human tissue on the homeowner's property.??
For patients who wanted their "fresh" placenta after giving birth, our hospital policy was for the OB Department to handle it; Pathology did not get involved!
I hope this information helps.
Richard W. Cartun, MS, PhDMorphologic Proteomics, LLC On Monday, June 16, 2025 at 03:53:06 PM EDT, Hannen, Valerie via Histonet <histonet at lists.utsouthwestern.edu> wrote:
Good Afternoon all!!
I am hoping someone can share with me their policy and form that is used in accordance of the policy on the subject of releasing tissue per patient request to the patient?? We have had a few incident recently where the patient/ family has asked for placenta and or the fetus ( less than 20 weeks gestation).
My concern is that these specimens or any specimen in formalin is the formalin! We have a very old policy and I am not comfortable with it. I would like to use other's policies as a guide (not copy it verbatim).? Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated.
TIA.
v/r,
Valerie
Valerie A. Hannen,MLT(ASCP),HTL,SU(FL)
Histology Section Chief
Parrish Medical Center
951 N. Washington Avenue
Titusville, Florida 32796
P: 321-268-6333? Ext. 7506
F: 321-268-6149
valerie.hannen at parrishmed.com<mailto:valerie.hannen at parrishmed.com>
www.parrishmed.com
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Message: 4
Date: Tue, 17 Jun 2025 00:22:07 +0000
From: "Whitaker, Bonnie" <Bonnie.Whitaker at osumc.edu>
To: "Cathy M. Mathis/Comparative Medicine" <cmmathis at wakehealth.edu>,
"histonet at lists.utsouthwestern.edu"
<histonet at lists.utsouthwestern.edu>
Subject: Re: [Histonet] Formic Acid treatment for b-Amyloid staining
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<CH0PR20MB405755F34D7C1C0554936019F773A at CH0PR20MB4057.namprd20.prod.outlook.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
I used this years ago, before all the different retrieval buffers were readily available. I believe it was from a NovaCastra provided protocol, but I could be mistaken about that.
Get Outlook for iOS<https://aka.ms/o0ukef> ________________________________
From: Cathy M. Mathis/Comparative Medicine via Histonet <histonet at lists.utsouthwestern.edu>
Sent: Monday, June 16, 2025 2:30:45 PM
To: histonet at lists.utsouthwestern.edu <histonet at lists.utsouthwestern.edu>
Subject: [Histonet] Formic Acid treatment for b-Amyloid staining
Is there a reason to using formic acid treatment before beta amyloid staining in IHC?? I have only been using a high pH antigen retrieval solution and that works fine for me.
Thank you for your time,
Cathy
Cathy M. Mathis
Research Lab Technician IV
Dept. of Pathology \ Comparative Pathology Lab Wake Forest University School of Medicine p 336.716.1538 cmmathis at wakehealth.edu<mailto:cmmathis at wakehealth.edu>
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