Do you use a tape coverslipper? That may be a concern.  If not, it sounds
like too much mounting medium, no matter what brand.

Don




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Don Hammer, Administrative Director            UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
Hospital Pathology, Box 356100                     MEDICAL CENTER
1995 NE Pacific St.
Seattle Washington, 98195                  ~Where Knowledge Comes To Life~
(206) 548-6401 Fax: (206) 548-4928
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


On Thu, 25 Feb 1999 ODDBALSTER@aol.com wrote:

> Hello Histonetters, I was hoping you could help me a couple problems.My
> pathologist was complaining that the stained H & E sections in our daily work
> was somewhat on different "plains" and needed constant focusing while under
> the scope. I sat down with her and went over some slides, these sections were
> somewhat "fuzzy or hazy" in some places and crisp in other, which makes me
> think possibly it's the mounting medium...we've been using this medium for
> sometime (resinous) and unfortunately we're on contract so my options are
> limited (for purchasing that is). Could it possibly be the deparaffination
> process? We microwave our sections to melt the paraffin, and put them in
> Xylene for 6 minutes to clear before sending them down the stainer. It does
> not happen on all the tissue, and there does not seem to be any preference as
> to type of specimen either (happens to bx's and surgicals). Any suggestions?
> Also, we seem to be getting holes in our blocks after embedding, the VERY
> irritating experience is becoming more and more frequent. We have fresh
> paraffin in our dispenser (and processor) and have a cold plate at optimal
> temperature, yet it seems at least 4-5 blocks per day are "breaking" when
> trimming because of these holes. Is it possible that we may be embedding too
> fast? Not giving the warm paraffin time to combine with the cold paraffin
> after inserting the tissue in the mold? Could it be that we aren't cleaning
> the molds enough? Again, any suggestions? Thanks for your help in
>advance, man
> I love this net......
>
> Kari Zajic HT,MLT
> Lead Histotech
> Florida
>
>