We use eosin (alcoholic) in the final 100% ROH in our processor.  It not
only helps the embedder find all of the pieces but also helps the person
cutting the tissue; it can be difficult to distinguish the biopsy from the
paraffin if it is not colored.

> ----------
> From: 	RSRICHMOND@aol.com[SMTP:RSRICHMOND@aol.com]
> Sent: 	Saturday, October 21, 2000 10:36 PM
> To: 	HistoNet@pathology.swmed.edu
> Subject: 	marking prostate biopsy specimens
> 
> Several people have commented on marking prostate biopsy specimens for the
> 
> embedder.
> 
> Speaking as the end user, I don't care what you mark it with, as long as
> you 
> find all the pieces and tamp them flat in the paraffin!
> 
> I think that mercurochrome, though commonly used, is unacceptable because
> of 
> its high mercury content (26%). I've seen people get by with ordinary
> eosin. 
> Green Davidson marking ink looks horrible, but I've used it and it gets
> the 
> job done, and is probably preferable when the embedder has to work without
> 
> adequate light or magnification, or has impaired vision (all situations I
> see 
> commonly in my travels).
> 
> The important thing is for the embedder to find all the pieces, each of
> which 
> represents a moment of agony for the unfortunate patient. The person doing
> 
> the grossing should be counting the cores and estimating their total
> length. 
> ("three strips of white tissue with an aggregate length of about 60 mm")
> It's 
> not commonly done, but if I ran the zoo the person doing the grossing (or 
> their assistant) would write these counts on a log sheet for the embedder.
> 
> Bob Richmond
> Samurai Pathologist
> Knoxville TN
>