First of all you need thin sections from your residents, you may get this by
fixing first in Pen Fix from Richard Allan. After fixation,in Pen Fix take
thin sections and process with a standard protocol. I'm not sure you need
all that special handling. Again the most important is THIN SECTIONS. Pass
it on to your residents. Hope this helps.

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Scott, Allison D [SMTP:Allison_Scott@hchd.tmc.edu]
> Sent:	Monday, February 07, 2000 4:27 PM
> To:	histonet@pathology.swmed.edu
> Subject:	Processing protocol for breast specimens
> 
> Does anyone have a protocol for processing breast specimens.  We get
> breast
> cases at least 2 to 3 times a week.  Our pathologist is not very happy
> about
> the turnaround time in getting the case out.  Our first problem is that
> the
> tissues were cut in to big and thick. our residents donot listen to reason
> or follow instructions very well.  So therefore we have to work with some
> very big fatty pieces of tissue.  We are putting the cassettes into Rapid
> Fixx solution(fixative for fatty tisue), for overnight fixation.  The next
> day, they are put into methanol for 2 to 3 hours. After the methanol, we
> put
> them into acetone for the remainder of the day.  They are then loaded on
> the
> VIP for 2 changes of formalin, 2 changes of 95% alcohol, 4 changes of 100%
> alcohol, clear rite 3 and then paraffin.  These are for 1 hour each.  In
> some instances we still have to run some cassettes back because they were
> still not  processed well. If someone has a suggestion please  reply.