Dear All,

We have a cervical spine lesion containing crystals, to date we have 
been able to identify that they are either Ca pyrophosphate or Ca 
oxalate.  Does anyone have an insight into a way to differentiate 
between these two crystal types?

We have stained with Alizarin Red S and they are strongly positive, 
we have polarised them while using a 1/4 llambda plate and identified 
them as not Ca urates.

As these two chemicals have similar solubilities we are finding it 
difficult to separate them in paraffin sections.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

 



Bill Sinai
Department Manager
Tissue Pathology
ICPMR Westmead Hospital 
WESTMEAD NSW AUSTRALIA
Phone 61+2+9845 7774  Fax 61+2+9687 2330