Dear Jeanne,
most labs in the past would have routinely had cycles of 14-16hr plus, and
unless they are doing evening and night shifts- probably still do. The
shorter cycles being pursued by some labs, run a risk of insufficient
processing/ impregnation etc. with poor microtomy etc. those that do get
such cycles to work well on larger biopsies, tend to have a daily solution
change protocol which is an expensive option c/w say weekly for a VIP on a
17hr cycle.
The example below is merely a guide for you and can be varied to suit your
start time/ finish time etc. Please note the variation at step 6 & 7, I
consider this to be mandatory for fatty tissues esp. breast, lipomas, and
those "Wider/deep excisions" often done when that tiny mole is found to be a
Superficial spreading type melanoma. These two steps ensure that any water
trapped within the fat can be removed  in station 7 by the partial defatting
in no.6.
The use of graded alcohols is unnecessary, if when you do your solution
rotations, you discard no.3, replace 3 with 4 and 4 with 5 etc , and
similarly for xylene and your waxes etc.
PS. Avoid the Limonene type clearing agents for breast as they tend
either/both to have a shorter life in the processor for satisfactory results
and do not defat/clear as well.

1) 10% NBF 1hr
2)  .....................
3)  Alcohol Abs. 90mins
4)  Alcohol Abs. 90 mins
5)  Alcohol Abs. 90 mins
6)  50/50 Xylene/ alcohol Abs. 60 mins
7)  Alcohol Abs. 60 mins
8)  Xylene 60 mins
9)  Xylene 90 mins
10)Xylene 90 mins
11)Paraffin 90 mins
12)Paraffin 90 mins

Best wishes, Mike Rentsch (Downunder)
-----Original Message-----
From: JIGPEP@aol.com <JIGPEP@aol.com>
To: HistoNet@pathology.swmed.edu <HistoNet@pathology.swmed.edu>
Date: Thursday, 2 March 2000 12:28
Subject: breast tissue


>Hi all,
>Does anyone out there process breast tissue for an extended period of time
>(say 14 hours or so?) Our current processing time is 10 hours for all
tissue
>and we would like to try processing breast (and other fatty tissue) for a
>longer time to see if we get better results.  Any info would be
>helpful--processing times and solutions used.
>          Thanks in advance!!
>
>Jeanne
>Pathology Consultants
>Lynchburg, VA
>
>