What mesh size do you use? I've used biopsy pads for small rodent tissues
and had the same problem with air trapped in the matrix stopping fluid
exchange. Cellpath in the uk sells a range of blue pads with different mesh
sizes. The larger ones are better. We pre-soak ours in a pot of formalin,
with each workstation having their own pot. This is ok for us as we have
downdraft benches and so the smell is not a problem.
Steve


|--------+-------------------------------->
|        |          Walzer Susan          |
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|        |          24/07/2002 15:56      |
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  |                                                                                                           |
  |       To:     'hymclab'                                                                 |
  |       Histonet                                                              |
  |       cc:                                                                                                 |
  |       Subject:     RE: Papers for endometrial curettings                                                  |
  >-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|




The trouble we had with the sponges is that we recieved bone marrows and
curettings from other places and with turnover of techs we cannot get it
through to  them that sponges MUST be wet so we end up with nothing but red
foam when we try to scrap the sponges. YUK!

Susan L Walzer HT(ASCP)


-----Original Message-----
From: hymclab [mailto:hymclab@hyhc.com]
Sent: Tuesday, July 23, 2002 3:02 PM
To: Histonet
Subject: Re: Papers for endometrial curettings


We use the blue sponges.  Make sure they are soaked well with water or
formalin, place them in the cassette and pour material through and the
curettings stay put very nicely.  Works great at the embedding center,
they
usually peel off the sponges in one peice and you can see them nicely with
the blue background!@!!

Thanks,
Dawn
Howard Young Medical Center
Woodruff, WI
-----Original Message-----
From: Vickroy, Jim 
To: histonet@pathology.swmed.edu 
Date: Tuesday, July 23, 2002 8:47 AM
Subject: Papers for endometrial curettings


When we are grossing endometrial curettings we have been using a tissue
paper to wrap the specimens and then place in a cassette.
Now everything sticks to the paper which is a real pain when at the
embedding center. The tissue paper we use is also used for hair
permanents. Does anybody have any ideas that work great?

Jim Vickroy
Memorial Medical Center
Springfield, IL