We used to microwave slides.  After we had a few tiny biopsies burned to a crisp because the tech set the timer wrong we stopped!

Claye

Claye Clyatt
Chief Histotechnologist
Department of Pathology 
Room #BF119
Medical College of Georgia
Augusta, Ga 30912
office   (706) 721-3630
pager  (706) 721-7243-1132
e-mail: cclyatt@mail.mcg.edu


>>> "Morken, Tim"  03/05/03 08:46AM >>>
Microwaving slides was standard procedure in a lab I worked in previously.
We would typically put several (up to 10) racks of slides in at once. The
only problem I noticed was uneven melting amoung all the racks, but it
seemed to work out fine for H&E's, however I would use a standard oven for
my immuno and ISH slides simply to ensure even drying and melting.
 
Tim Morken
Atlanta

-----Original Message-----
From: WWmn916@aol.com [mailto:WWmn916@aol.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, March 04, 2003 7:08 PM
To: histonet@pathology.swmed.edu 
Subject: microwaving slides


Greetings to all, 
I recently experimented microwaving slides prior to deparaffinization and
staining.  I have searched the histonet archives to get a feel for what
others think of doing this and if any problems were encountered during the
process.  It seemed only one person was strongly against microwaving slides.


I want to cover my bases, so to speak, because I can see how this thing is
taking off in our lab.  A few trial runs and people have quickly caught on
to this as an option to expedite morning stains and trailing slides needing
to make a hospital pickup.  I currently microwave anywhere between 1 to 10
slides at one time for 2 minutes at high power.  Has anyone noticed any
difference between slides dried in this manner and slides dried by
conventional oven?  It also my understanding that the paraffin doesn't melt
but the heated water on the slide that melts that wax.  As long as the
tissue stays on the slide and is deparaffinized completely through xylene,
alcohols and water.....is this okay and accurate thinking?  One last nagging
question:  Did those of you who started your own process of microwaving
slides show the slides to doctors to ensure staining is still good even
after microwaving?   

Deb King, HT 
Sacramento, CA 
Email:  WWmn916@aol.com