I appreciate all of the advice. Amos here is on EXACTLY the same page
that I am.  But I needed some evidence that I'm on the right track so
when I present my concerns at our staff meeting it won't seem like just
a difference in technique among techs.

Thanks again.
Jeanine

-----Original Message-----
From: histonet-bounces@lists.utsouthwestern.edu
[mailto:histonet-bounces@lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of
amosbrooks@earthlink.net
Sent: Thursday, March 03, 2005 10:34 AM
To: histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Subject: [Histonet] block alignment


Jeanine,
     I like to think about it as if I were the patient. If I had a focal
lesion and it was on the surface of the block and some one decided that
it would be easier to re-embed and re-face the block than to align the
microtome and the lesion was faced off, I'd be really upset.
Re-embedding the blocks is a rather dumb idea because you need to cut
into the block to get a full face anyway, there is bound to be tissue
loss. Aligning the block is a really quick process that can be done
easily once you are familiar with doing it. You just need to know what
to do. Know the tools you are working with and life will be easier for
everyone. Re-embedding all the blocks is going to take a lot of time
(you certainly aren't saving time with that option) and you are
introducing another potential source of problems. What if the cassettes
accidentally got switched or tissue from one block got mixed in with
tissue from another. It can easily happen when re-embedding a LOT of
blocks. It's just not worth it, re-align don't re-embed unless it's
absolutly necessary.

Just my $0.02
Amos


------------------------------

Message: 3
Date: Wed, 2 Mar 2005 13:42:22 -0500
From: "Bartlett, Jeanine" 
Subject: [Histonet] block alignment
To: 
Message-ID:
        
Content-Type: text/plain;       charset="us-ascii"

Hi:
 
Does anyone out there have any experience with block alignment products
such as the Microtome Aligner from Newcomer or the Histo Collimator?  We
receive a huge number of outside blocks and I adjust my block holder
accordingly, but others in the group say it's easier to re-embed all
outside blocks (Yikes!) and then have every microtome aligned the same.
I was just wondering if these aligners work and if so perhaps it could
be an alternative for those individuals that normally would rather
re-embed than realign.
 
Thanks!
Jeanine Bartlett, HT(ASCP)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Infectious Disease Pathology Activity
1600 Clifton Road, MS/G-32
Atlanta, GA 30333

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