Elvis HAS left the building! I don't want to be "All shook up"! j:>)
Joyce Weems
Pathology Manager
Saint Joseph's Hospital of Atlanta


	-----Original Message-----
	From:	Tim Morken [SMTP:timcdc@hotmail.com]
	Sent:	Tuesday, July 06, 1999 4:22 PM
	To:	histonet@Pathology.swmed.edu
	Subject:	The future of the Histology lab?

	Histonetters,

	A recent article in the June 1999 CAP Today (U.S. only), "Virtual
Tissue," 
	and the web site www.adpath.com give one possible version of the
histology 
	lab 5 to 20 years from now (depending on whether you are in a
research or 
	clinical lab). The article has sample images, the web site only has
an 
	explaination of the technology about to hit the histology lab.

	In short, a piece of pre-stained, resin-embedded tissue is cut into 
	thousands of sections by an automated microtome. Some sections are
kept for 
	specialized studies but the vast majority are discarded. Instead of
using 
	the sections, a digital image is made of the block face after each
section 
	and a 3D digital image of the entire tissue is produced.  Using your
desktop 
	computer you can then "section" the 'virtual tissue' in the most
useful 
	plane for diagnosis.

	Stains are applied before embedding using fluorescent dyes for the
common 
	tissue elements. These "stains" can then be interpreted by computer 
	enhancement to produce the "stains" a pathologist is used to seeing.

	Seems that with DVD technology a microscopical 3D digital image of
the 
	entire tissue sample from a case can be stored.

	If you wonder how it looks, an "H&E" by this method is as good or
better 
	than a real H&E. It certainly has better detail.

	I think the histology lab is about to be 'all shook up.' Hope you
all are 
	ready!



	Tim Morken, B.A., EMT(MSA), HTL(ASCP)
	Infectious Disease Pathology
	Centers for Disease Control
	MS-G32
	1600 Clifton Rd.
	Atlanta, GA 30333
	USA

	email: tim9@cdc.gov
	       timcdc@hotmail.com

	Phone: (404) 639-3964
	FAX:  (404)639-3043




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