Karen Adams at Pathology Laboratories West (in Knoxville TN, with
walking distance of where I live - had my aortic valve replacement at
Park West 5 years ago) asks:

>>Could someone please give me a really good reason to relay to a
pathologist as to why it is beneficial to record the number of [biopsy
specimens] submitted?<<

Let me turn this question around - why can't I get the embedder to
embed using my laboriously handwritten record of how many specimens I
put in the cassette, and use magnification while embedding them?

Because that's not the way we did it at dear old Siwash.

As biopsy specimens get smaller and smaller, it's too easy to lose
them in process. It doesn't make sense to subject a patient to a
procedure costing many thousands of dollars and much discomfort, and
then not bother to find and account for all the specimens.

The submitting clinical service needs to specify the number of
specimens in the bottle. The pathologist (or pathologist's assistant)
needs to count them, and record the count. And the embedder needs to
have that count record in front of them when they embed.

I think anything less is below standard of care. Vox clamantis in deserto.

Bob Richmond
Samurai Pathologist
Knoxville TN

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