I concur with Frank. Don't let the tissue get to hard and dry in the first 
place. We haven't needed to decrease our alcohol time (as our GI biopsies 
run with the rest of our tissues), but we remove our biopsies from the 
processor before the final paraffin. We simply put the biopsies (including 
biopsies that aren't GIs)in a separate basket for easy removal, and wait for 
the retort to hit "ambient" so we can sneak them out. They're fully 
infiltrated but not "cooked". This works especially well with needle 
biopsies for liver and prostate.

Tara Oakes,H.T.
Central DuPage Hospital


>From: FRANK TRINGALE 
>To: HistoNet Server 
>Subject: GI Biopsies
>Date: Sun, 28 Apr 2002 16:58:36 -0700
>
>We were having the same problem with chatter on GI Biopsies. We tried 
>various ways of soaking the blocks while sectioning but this did not solve 
>our problem. We have dedicated a VIP processor for GI BXs with a much 
>shorter cycle. The longer times in alcohol and warm paraffin tend to dry 
>out these specimens causing the chatter upon sectioning.
>Frank Tringale
>Supervisor Histology Services
>Stanford Medical Center


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