wow!  

What a raft of responses!  

The problem in the end lay with a tech (who should have known better) cycling the xylenes and alcohols the wrong way, ie the 'dirtiest' ones were ending up last (maybe excessive exposure to xylene fumes?!).  So we were getting a combination of poor deparaffinisation and poor rehydration.  I wonder, Russ, if this relates to your "two or more factors" theory?!

Thankyou thankyou thankyou to all who responded.  As always. the Histonet has more than proved its worth.

Cheers,
Aidan


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aidan schurr  b.m.l.sc
section head, histology
hutt valley district health board
lower hutt
new zealand

aidan.schurr@hvh.co.nz
++64 4 570 9173