Travis,

I personally don't like the bio bags because of the difficulty of opening them and i find paper fibers that come off with the tissue.  We use the Bio-Wraps (cat #01090) from Surgipath here.  The staff here likes the blue background and feel it makes the tissue easier to find.  I don't have trouble with paper fibers winding up in the cassette, however I these papers come in only one size which I think is too large and they tear easily.  I have also used and liked Histo Wrap from Orbex Industries (413-586-8803).  This is a white filter paper and comes in a variety of sizes.

Both products come in flat sheets which can be folded to form a funnel and you can pour the fixative solution through the funnel and capture small tissue fragments.  When embedding, I open the paper and allow it to cool slightly.  Using a micro spoon, I scrape the cooled paraffin off the paper and embed that in the mold.  Be sure the flatten as much as possible to keep as many of the fragments as possible in the same plane.  I have used this technique very successfully including recovering loose cells from urine.

Good luck,
Claye

Claye Clyatt
Chief Histotechnologist
Department of Pathology 
Room #BF119
Medical College of Georgia
Augusta, Ga 30912
office   (706) 721-3630
pager  (706) 721-7243-1132
e-mail: cclyatt@mail.mcg.edu


>>> Peterson Lab  04/01/03 02:07PM >>>
I am writing from a clinical setting, and we receive quite a few Endocervical Currettings and Endometrial Biopies.  Many times these are very difficult to collect and embed, and sometimes the speciman is sent with a brush.  Does anyone out there have any good ideas on collection and embedding these types of specimans?  Currently, we filter it through a biobag and hope for the best when we embed and cut sections.
Thanks for your help
Travis Troyer
Peterson Clinical Lab