As usual, a picture would be worth a thousand words. 
The fact that early sections show it and deepers don't, point to either frying or desiccation.

Terry L Marshall B.A.(Law), M.B.Ch.B., F.R.C.Path
Consultant Histopathologist
Rotherham General Hospital, Yorkshire
terry.marshall@rgh-tr.trent.nhs.uk

-----Original Message-----
From: p=NHS NATIONAL
INT;a=NHS;c=GB;dda:RFC-822=CrochiereSteve(a)aol.com; 
Sent: 19 March 2002 02:29
To: p=NHS NATIONAL
INT;a=NHS;c=GB;dda:RFC-822=histonet(a)pathology.swmed.edu;
Subject: Burned Tissue?


Hi,
I've been having a real problem this last week or so with tissue coming off 
my Shandon Pathcentre looking "burned," according to my pathologist. What 
could cause such an artifact? I thought maybe it was a paraffin temp problem, 
but there's been no record of the processor going outside temp limits. 
Thought it may be insufficient de-paraffinization (still hoping it's that). 
It doesn't happen to everything, and the weirdest part is that one level from 
a biopsy showed the artifact while deeper levels did not.

Any help....please

steve