Joe,

I hope I can help you here.  I came from a hospital that had a large
transplant service.  If I remember correctly, the processors had the
following program.  The biopises were already fixed by the time they were
loaded onto the processor.  Please remember the times may have to be
adjusted according to your processor.  I had Shandon Hypercenter's and 4
modules.  One was dedicated for biopsies only.

95%Aclo   15 minutes
100% Alc  15 minutes
100%Alc   15 minutes
100% Alc  15 minutes
Xylene         15 minutes
Xylene         15 Minutes
Paraffin       30 minutes
Paraffin       30 minutes

I'm sure there are microwave procedures that would be faster that you may
want to look into.

These patients are biospied very often during their first year.  We had
same day processing and diagnosing for outpatient biospies because many
came from out of town.  All outpatient bx's had to be in the lab and
grossed by 12:30 P.M.  I had to have a later shift to cover.

With a transplant service you may have to be very flexible to meet the
needs of the service.  There was always a technician on call with a beeper
all weekend (this would include evenings).  All the techs rotated coverage.
There will be times when someone may be rejecting and a stat will need to
be performed at night.  That is why I suggest you try a microwave procedure
also.

For the stat's the resident on call put them on the processor and called a
technician and would let them know what time they would be needed.  If we
knew there was going to be a biopsy after hours, someone was given the
beeper.

Good luck.

Rande Kline (HT) ASCP









"Nocito, Joseph" <joseph_nocito@srhc.iwhs.org> on 05/28/99 10:58:57 AM

To:   'Histonet' <histonet@pathology.swmed.edu>
cc:
Subject:  Processing of Heart Biopsies




Good Friday morning Histonetters,
I have been officially informed by my chief pathologist that the hospital
will begin a transplant service.  This includes kidney, liver, heart, and
heart-lung transplants.  I have experience with kidney and liver
transplants, but heart is a new avenue.  My experience with liver and
kidney
is that patients usually reject at night or over the weekends.  I can
assume
heart patients will do the same thing.  Does anyone have a good, rapid
procedure for processing heart biopsies?  I know I wouldn't want to wait
until Monday if I was rejecting a heart. Anything would be helpful. I
really
don't want to play around with processing on a patient specimen.  Autopsies
are far and few between.  The transplant unit is supposed to gear up
Tuesday, June 1. No rush though.  Have a good and safe Memorial Day weekend
( for you U.S. people).



Joe Nocito, B.S., HT(ASCP)QIHC
Histology Supervisor
Christus Santa Rosa Hospitals
San Antonio, Texas