Maria's QUESTION...

OK...I have a co-worker who argues with me about IHC slide preparations...she's been a histo tech for 17+ years...and to quote her "I've been doing it this way for over 17 years and I haven't heard any compliants..."

(1) I cut IHC slides in clean water (no adhesive) and put them on Plus (charged) slides. I then let them air dry over night and send them off to the lab that will do IHC stains on them I also cut them at 3-4 microns

Here's the problem: My co-worker put a chrmagnum solution with tymol in her waterbath. She cuts them at 6 microns. Then she places them in a hot oven (70-80 degress) and super heats them until the wax is dripping off them They sit in the oven 30 minutes to 3 hours...or when ever she remembers to remove them.
Am I crazy? I have been a tech for 12 years and I was told to NEVER super heat slides, cut them thin always, and air dry.

please get back to me as soon as you can...its driving me crazy.

maria,
this is a whole can of worms.
our concepts about super heating slides have all changed with the advent of HIER.
one thing i am pretty sure about though, is if she puts stuff in her waterbath it will negate the charge benefits of the plus slides, might as well use uncoated slides and save the money.
the proof is all in the results.  if she can demonstrate by use of controls consistantly good IHC staining using these preparation methods then it is hard to argue with her, on the other hand if there are problems, even occasional problems with the IHC staining then the preparation methods are suspect.  i would
suggest running your preparation methods along side her slide preparation methods, do IHC and see what the results are.  the proof is in the pudding.

Patsy

"FASTRAVEN@EARTHLINK.NET" wrote:

> Hi Patsy,
> OK...I have a co-worker who argues with me about IHC slide preparations...she's been a histo tech for 17+ years...and to quote her "I've been doing it this way for over 17 years and I haven't heard anycompliants..."
>
> (1) I cut IHC slides in clean water (no adhesive) and put them on Plus (charged) slides. I then let them air dry over night and send them off to the lab that will do IHC stains on them I also cut them at 3-4 microns
>
> Here's the problem: My co-worker put a chrmagnum solution with tymol in her waterbath. She cuts them at 6 microns. Thenshe places them in a hot oven (70-80 degress) and super heats them until the wax is dripping off them They sit in the oven 30 minutes to 3 hours...or when ever she remembers to remove them.
> Am I crazy? I have been a tech for 12 years and I was told to NEVER super heat slides, cut them thin always, and air dry.
>
> please get back to me as soon as you can...its driving me crazy.
> I work at Queen of the Valley Hospital in Napa, CA
> I got all my training at UCDavis and have a license.
> (its no wonder why the slides give negative results)
>
> thanks again,
> Maria Katleba MS,HT
> Queen of the Valley Hospital
> Pathology Lab
> 1000 Trancas
> Napa, CA 94558        707-257-4076 2am-1030am M-F  California time :)
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> mail2web - Check your email from the web at
> http://mail2web.com/ .