Levels & Serials ?

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From:"B.A.Murray" <bamur@alaska.net> (by way of histonet)
To:histonet@magicnet.net
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Date:Sun, 2 May 1999 03:25:24 -0400
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This may have been discussed before,but for the record this discussion
has come up again in our dept.
How much  is needed on a slide if it's a bx. We usually do 3 strips
levels 1,2,&3
if it's a small bx. and two strips levels 1, & 2 if it's ECC. Now,the
new pathologist
says one strip is enough and forget the rest. We were doing two levels
for breast cases.Another pathologist says one level for bx. is not
enough.
My question is, how  are other labs handling this and what is expected
or is it left
up to the histologist? Are there standards that all the pathologist
abide by or do they all have a preference as to what they want and we
are dealing with three of them!
I consider a serial section to be a continuation of 3-4 sections of a
ribbon and
a level to be to cut one strip and that would be level one,cut deeper
into the
block and that is level 2 and deeper again would be level 3.
Is it the norm to have levels for breast cases especially when we have
some that
maybe 15-20 blocks?
May I please have several responses to show the pathologist what
everyone else
is doing?
Thanks for taking the time to read this and thanks in advance for your
responses!

B.A.Murray,HT(ASCP)
The Alaska Native Medical Center




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