Patricia:
  You yourself have pointed out to the 2 main sources of the problem:
  1- a longer than needed processing schedule is one. Reducing it, specially the dehydrating stations, can help, and
  2- doing a better coordination between the OR and the lab (with regards to how expeditiously the Bx are fixed/delivered).
  In our case we did the same two things but we really eliminated the problem when we eliminated xylene in our tissue processing and changed to mineral oil.
  If you want I can send you that protocol.
  Regards
  René J.

Patricia Karlisch  wrote:
  All,
We are having occassional problems with small colon, stomach and
antrum specimens that are 'drying' out, at least this is what we think. 
The specimens show no nuclear detail and the H&E looks smudgy. Other
specimens stained with the same slides look great. We process our small
specimens on a short 5 hour processing schedule which seemed to have
improved some of our 85% of our specimens. Has anyone else had this
problem? We think that the specimen may be sitting in the OR before
they get placed in formalin. Is there any way to fix this when it
happens? Any suggestions would be helpful. Pat Karlisch

Pat Karlisch
Supervisor, Histology, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center
Mail Code H179
Hershey, PA 17033
Phone (717) 531-6072
Fax: (717) 531- 7741
email: pkarlisch@psu.edu

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