Hi,
    If a microorganism is going to contaminate a section on the same slide as
the control then obviously the microorganism could contaminate a section on a
slide in the same coplin jar. If this is true then you are left running the
control separate and what is the point of doing that. I wouldn't worry about
that any more than the other slides in the same jar.
Amos Brooks

"Tapper, Sheila" wrote:

> Have you ever had trouble with microorganisms traveling from your positive
> control to the patient tissue?  My pathologist refuses to allow
> microorganism controls to be placed on the same slide, for fear that
> something may contaminate the patient tissue.
>
> Sheila
>
>         -----Original Message-----
>         From:   Tom T. McNemar [SMTP:TMcNemar@lmhealth.org]
>         Sent:   Monday, March 20, 2000 10:26 AM
>         To:     Colbert, Laurie; 'histonet@pathology.swmed.edu'
>         Subject:        RE: Automation of Special Stains - QC
>
>         With regard to the question of positive/negative controls.....  In
> our lab
>         we mount the positive control on the same slide as the patient.
> This way
>         you always know that the control and patient were stained exactly
> the same.
>         Granted, we go through a huge number of control blocks but so far
> they have
>         been pretty easy to come by.  We buy special slides that have a red
> box for
>         the control tissue.  It has worked well for us.
>         Tom Mc Nemar
>         Pathology Supervisor
>         Licking Memorial Hospital
>         Newark, Ohio
>
>         > -----Original Message-----
>         > From: Colbert, Laurie [SMTP:LColbert@phsca.org]
>         > Sent: Sunday, March 19, 2000 2:37 PM
>         > To:   'histonet@pathology.swmed.edu'
>         > Subject:      RE: Automation of Special Stains
>         >
>         > In the past we used the Leica Autostainer to do some special
> stains.  This
>         > worked well, but large amounts of reagent were needed to fill the
> slide
>         > buckets on the stainer and the number of stains that could be
> performed at
>         > one time was limited.
>         >
>         > We now have two Cytologix stainers in our lab.  One was purchased
> and one
>         > is
>         > on loan until Cytologix can improve on the turn-around time.  The
> stains
>         > are
>         > really nice on this stainer, but there are a  few problems with
>         > consistency.
>         > The stainer can accommodate 48 slides at one time, but, as I
> mentioned
>         > earlier, the turn-around time is not good when you have multiple
> stains or
>         > multiple slides (more that 3 or 4) slides of one stain.  What is
> really
>         > nice
>         > is that we can run stains overnight and they are ready to hand out
> first
>         > thing in the morning.  So this aspect has improved our turn-around
> time.
>         >
>         > Cytologix is aware of the problems with their stainer, and they
> are very
>         > receptive to any issue or problem we have had.  I think this is
> going to
>         > be
>         > a really great stainer down the line when some of the bugs have
> been
>         > worked
>         > out.  For now, we will continue work around the problems, and the
> stainer
>         > really has saved us several times when we were short on people.
> And I
>         > have
>         > to emphasize that their customer service has been good.
>         >
>         > I may be opening a can of worms here, but I have a question in
> regards to
>         > automation of stains.  I feel there is no real quality control on
> the
>         > stainers that stain one slide at a time (vs. batch staining as on
> the
>         > Leica
>         > Autostainer).  Sure, your control may be positive, but how do you
> know the
>         > patient slide was stained properly when it is stained independent
> of the
>         > control slide?  We have had our control slide come out negative,
> but our
>         > patient was positive, so who's to say that this couldn't  happen
> the other
>         > way around???
>         >
>         > Laurie Colbert
>         > Saint Joseph Medical Center
>         > Burbank, CA