Two new tissue processors are providing speedier results for Forth Valley patients. They have replaced processors more than 11 years old and funding was secured through capital expenditure for which the department say a big thank you.
The equipment has been installed in the routine Histopathology laboratory and the process is used to analyse biopsies. The process takes 14 hours and is run overnight.
Tissue processing is required to transfer formalin-fixed tissue biopsies to paraffin wax embedded tissue blocks which can then be cut into tissue sections one cell in depth. Once the tissue section has been mounted on a glass slide and stained, this allows the pathologist to view the morphology of the tissue via a light microscope,
The team aim to reduce turnaround time for large resections from 42 hours to 18 hours and offer a rapid processing cycle for small biopsies, with results in two hours rather than three. With more cycles running simultaneously capacity has also increased.
