Brett,

Our biopsy process is considerably shorter than the usual one, approximately
10-15 minutes per station, no heat, but with agitation or pressure & vacuum.
The final paraffin is 30 minutes.  That works well for biopsies that are no
larger than about 4 mm in diameter.

If you're going to be processing adenomatous polyps, as long as they are
small they will do pretty well on an abbreviated schedule such as this one.
Larger polyps will need more time. You might try starting them at about 30
minutes per station and backing off the time at 5 minute intervals until you
find something that works well.  If they are over-processed a little,
introducing moisture while cutting (ice) will help the sectioning until you
can perfect the processing schedule.

Hope this helps!

-Teri Johnson, HT(ASCP)

----- Original Message -----
From: Connolly, Brett <brett_connolly@merck.com>
To: 'HISTONET' <histonet@pathology.swmed.edu>
Sent: Monday, March 13, 2000 9:22 AM
Subject: Processing GI biopsies


> Here's another one of those requests that has been discussed before, but
> didn't apply to me at the time.
>
> I soon be doing some IHC staining of human adenomatous polyps and am in
need
> of a processing schedule from any of you GI experts. The tissue will be
> fixed in 10%NBF for 24 hr at 4C, then transferred to 70% ETOH prior to
> shipping to my lab. I am assuming, at this point that the tissue will be
in
> the 3-5mm range. We generally process larger tissue on an overnight
> schedule, but I am concerned that these smaller samples will be
> overdehydrated, burned, or become brittle on this schedule, hence my
> question(s).
>
> What is the preferred dehydration schedule?
> How long in xylene and paraffin?
> Vacuum or not?
>
> Thanks,
> Brett
>
>
> Brett M. Connolly, Ph.D.
> Merck Research Laboratories
> Department of Pharmacology
> WP26A-3000
> PO Box 4
> West Point, PA 19486
> Ph. 215-652-2501
> FAX 215-652-2075
> e-mail: brett_connolly@merck.com
>
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