Comments for HistoTalk http://www.sakura-americas.com/blog/wordpress Thu, 09 Sep 2010 09:30:22 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 Comment on How Will You Use Digital Imaging? by theresa http://www.sakura-americas.com/blog/wordpress/?p=62#comment-79 theresa Mon, 28 Jun 2010 23:24:41 +0000 http://www.sakura-americas.com/blog/wordpress/?p=62#comment-79 Hello to all you innovators and trail blazers! Sakura has been asked by a worldwide organization to share stories of any of our laboratory clients and customers who may be doing innovative things with process improvement, Lean, Six Sigma, and ISO, and similar quality management initiatives. If you feel what you are doing is pretty innovative, please email me tford@sakuraus.com Theresa Ford Director of Marketing, Sakura Finetek USA, Inc. Hello to all you innovators and trail blazers!

Sakura has been asked by a worldwide organization to share stories of any of our laboratory clients and customers who may be doing innovative things with process improvement, Lean, Six Sigma, and ISO, and similar quality management initiatives. If you feel what you are doing is pretty innovative, please email me tford@sakuraus.com

Theresa Ford
Director of Marketing, Sakura Finetek USA, Inc.

]]> Comment on Continuing Education in Histology – Where Do You Get Yours? by Alyicia Rios http://www.sakura-americas.com/blog/wordpress/?p=95#comment-73 Alyicia Rios Fri, 04 Jun 2010 17:04:29 +0000 http://www.sakura-americas.com/blog/wordpress/?p=95#comment-73 Sakura Finetek USA, Inc. is now offering FREE monthly webinars to the histology community and will provide 1 CEU credit to each registered attendee at the conclusion. All of today's hot topics within histology will be discussed and presented by fellow working colleagues with firsthand experience and expertise in their fields. This is a great opportunity don't miss out register today. Sakura Finetek USA, Inc. is now offering FREE monthly webinars to the histology community and will provide 1 CEU credit to each registered attendee at the conclusion. All of today’s hot topics within histology will be discussed and presented by fellow working colleagues with firsthand experience and expertise in their fields. This is a great opportunity don’t miss out register today.

]]> Comment on The Histology Automation Revolution Is Coming! by William DeSalvo http://www.sakura-americas.com/blog/wordpress/?p=59#comment-69 William DeSalvo Wed, 14 Apr 2010 02:31:33 +0000 http://www.sakura-americas.com/blog/wordpress/?p=59#comment-69 I am certinly glad that you were able to see and embrace the Sakura technology. Tissue sample selection and orientation, at the Grossing bench, is an important first step onto the automation revolution road. What do you see ahead on the road that will transform the Anatomic Pathology and Histology Lab? I am certinly glad that you were able to see and embrace the Sakura technology. Tissue sample selection and orientation, at the Grossing bench, is an important first step onto the automation revolution road. What do you see ahead on the road that will transform the Anatomic Pathology and Histology Lab?

]]> Comment on Standardization – Where Do We Start? by Kelley http://www.sakura-americas.com/blog/wordpress/?p=42#comment-67 Kelley Wed, 07 Apr 2010 18:34:43 +0000 http://www.sakura-americas.com/blog/wordpress/?p=42#comment-67 We have the VIP 6 and we love it. This processor has some really amazing features. I cannot enumerate all of them at this time b/c I'd take up lots and lots of space. The features we use the most that we continue to be very excited about are the solution manager, the bottle check, the automatic solution rotation, cassette count, bulk reservoir tanks, and to help reduce exposure to xylene we definitely use the tubes provided to drain and fill the xylene carboys and we no longer pour solutions in and out of the carboys. The carboys are nice though b/c they are a "wide mouth" size and there is a cap to put on the connector end so if you are walking to and from the processor with a carboy there are no spills from "sloshing" around. If you want me to go into greater detail about any of this please email me back. The menus are very user friendly. The touch screen is easy to use - we always wear gloves to keep finger prints at bay. The lid is ergonomically designed and easy to open and close. We have had to request a technician twice - once for a lid sensor and once for a soft ware upgrade / update - but both times they've had a tech out here the next day. I recommended this processor to another lab here in FL and as far as I know they are over the moon about theirs as well. One other really great thing was that after we purchased our 6 I was sent to CA for a training at Sakura and the information I received there was invaluable. The staff professionalism and knowledge was second to none and I left with a very thorough understanding of the machine. I was able to come back to our lab and provide training to the other staff that use the VIP 6. No I'm not a sales rep I am just a very happy customer. We have the VIP 6 and we love it. This processor has some really amazing features. I cannot enumerate all of them at this time b/c I’d take up lots and lots of space.

The features we use the most that we continue to be very excited about are the solution manager, the bottle check, the automatic solution rotation, cassette count, bulk reservoir tanks, and to help reduce exposure to xylene we definitely use the tubes provided to drain and fill the xylene carboys and we no longer pour solutions in and out of the carboys. The carboys are nice though b/c they are a “wide mouth” size and there is a cap to put on the connector end so if you are walking to and from the processor with a carboy there are no spills from “sloshing” around. If you want me to go into greater detail about any of this please email me back.

The menus are very user friendly. The touch screen is easy to use - we always wear gloves to keep finger prints at bay. The lid is ergonomically designed and easy to open and close.

We have had to request a technician twice - once for a lid sensor and once for a soft ware upgrade / update - but both times they’ve had a tech out here the next day.

I recommended this processor to another lab here in FL and as far as I know they are over the moon about theirs as well.

One other really great thing was that after we purchased our 6 I was sent to CA for a training at Sakura and the information I received there was invaluable. The staff professionalism and knowledge was second to none and I left with a very thorough understanding of the machine. I was able to come back to our lab and provide training to the other staff that use the VIP 6.

No I’m not a sales rep I am just a very happy customer.

]]> Comment on The Histology Automation Revolution Is Coming! by Kelley http://www.sakura-americas.com/blog/wordpress/?p=59#comment-66 Kelley Wed, 07 Apr 2010 18:32:40 +0000 http://www.sakura-americas.com/blog/wordpress/?p=59#comment-66 Just went out to CA last month for Sakura training on the VIP 6 and got to look at the "dream lab" Sakura just set up. Very cool! At that lab they have the Automatic Embedding system. What they do to get proper orientation at the time of grossing is they've developed special cassettes that have, for lack of a better word, baskets. They have a biopsy cassette basket, a basket that could be used for tubular structures (ie vas deferens), they have a basket for larger specimens (uterus etc) and baskets that have rows for breast bx and prostate bx. The whole idea is to maintain orientation all the way through the process. The tissues are oriented in these cassette baskets at the time of grossing. They are loaded onto the processor, then loaded into the auto embedding center. Never having to re orient the samples. Then the baskets are embedded directly into the paraffin wax and are sectioned. You section right through the basket. It is made of a special type of plastic that is "sectionable." It is a really cool idea and process to watch. I brought home some samples of the baskets so I could try them here in our lab even though we don't have the auto embedding station. We sectioned through a couple of the different basket varieties and got good results. I'd contact my Sakura rep for some samples so you could try to section with the basket and see if it works for you. We don't have the volume that would necessitate an auto embedder b/c we are a research lab - but if we could justify it I'd love to have it. Just went out to CA last month for Sakura training on the VIP 6 and got to look at the “dream lab” Sakura just set up.

Very cool! At that lab they have the Automatic Embedding system. What they do to get proper orientation at the time of grossing is they’ve developed special cassettes that have, for lack of a better word, baskets. They have a biopsy cassette basket, a basket that could be used for tubular structures (ie vas deferens), they have a basket for larger specimens (uterus etc) and baskets that have rows for breast bx and prostate bx.

The whole idea is to maintain orientation all the way through the process. The tissues are oriented in these cassette baskets at the time of grossing. They are loaded onto the processor, then loaded into the auto embedding center. Never having to re orient the samples.

Then the baskets are embedded directly into the paraffin wax and are sectioned. You section right through the basket. It is made of a special type of plastic that is “sectionable.” It is a really cool idea and process to watch.

I brought home some samples of the baskets so I could try them here in our lab even though we don’t have the auto embedding station. We sectioned through a couple of the different basket varieties and got good results.

I’d contact my Sakura rep for some samples so you could try to section with the basket and see if it works for you.

We don’t have the volume that would necessitate an auto embedder b/c we are a research lab - but if we could justify it I’d love to have it.

]]> Comment on Standardization – Where Do We Start? by William DeSalvo http://www.sakura-americas.com/blog/wordpress/?p=42#comment-51 William DeSalvo Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:51:03 +0000 http://www.sakura-americas.com/blog/wordpress/?p=42#comment-51 Thanks for the information. Without seeing the tissue or the sections cut, I cannot say for certain, but I do not believe you have a fixation problem. The problem seems to be in the procesing and the solutions and times provided do not seem out of the ordinary. I would suggest that if your processor has the options available, add a continuous mix for each solution cycle to help move and exchange the solutions. Consider adding vacuum/pressure at each step to assist infiltration/exchange. I am not a particular fan of increasing the heat. You can also consider to "trim" the samples further to standardize the thicknes to 2mm. Standardization at any step will help reduce variation and leads to reduction in suboptimal performance. Additionally, you can check and make sure that when you process breast tissue, you do not load the basket/rack to capacity to allow for optimum flow of reagents and solutions. Last process suggestion is to set a rigid control on the quality of the reagents on the processor, especially when there are fatty or bloody tissues being processed. Rotate and change out to provide consistant performance of your processing schedules and when using conventional processing and having larger resection specimens processed, I suggest no more the 600-700 cassettes processed before rotating/changing your solutions. Finally, I suggest that you try one thing at a time and validate the process changes. This will require some time and effort, but the benefit will be you will find the issue or combination of issues that are causing the problem and you will be able to prevent the problem as you move forward. Thanks for the information. Without seeing the tissue or the sections cut, I cannot say for certain, but I do not believe you have a fixation problem. The problem seems to be in the procesing and the solutions and times provided do not seem out of the ordinary. I would suggest that if your processor has the options available, add a continuous mix for each solution cycle to help move and exchange the solutions. Consider adding vacuum/pressure at each step to assist infiltration/exchange. I am not a particular fan of increasing the heat. You can also consider to “trim” the samples further to standardize the thicknes to 2mm. Standardization at any step will help reduce variation and leads to reduction in suboptimal performance. Additionally, you can check and make sure that when you process breast tissue, you do not load the basket/rack to capacity to allow for optimum flow of reagents and solutions. Last process suggestion is to set a rigid control on the quality of the reagents on the processor, especially when there are fatty or bloody tissues being processed. Rotate and change out to provide consistant performance of your processing schedules and when using conventional processing and having larger resection specimens processed, I suggest no more the 600-700 cassettes processed before rotating/changing your solutions. Finally, I suggest that you try one thing at a time and validate the process changes. This will require some time and effort, but the benefit will be you will find the issue or combination of issues that are causing the problem and you will be able to prevent the problem as you move forward.

]]> Comment on Standardization – Where Do We Start? by LOUANN http://www.sakura-americas.com/blog/wordpress/?p=42#comment-49 LOUANN Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:41:37 +0000 http://www.sakura-americas.com/blog/wordpress/?p=42#comment-49 BILL, DO YOU HAVE A FAX NUMBER THAT I COULD JUST FAX OUR TISSUE PROCESS PROGRAM TO INSTEAD OF EMAILING IT TO YOU. OUR BREAST SPECIMENS ARE SOMETIMES ABOUT 1/2 CM THICK. I KNOW THEY ARE A LITTLE THICK. THANKS LOU ANN HANDERHAN BILL,

DO YOU HAVE A FAX NUMBER THAT I COULD JUST FAX OUR TISSUE PROCESS PROGRAM TO INSTEAD OF EMAILING IT TO YOU. OUR BREAST SPECIMENS ARE SOMETIMES ABOUT 1/2 CM THICK. I KNOW THEY ARE A LITTLE THICK. THANKS

LOU ANN HANDERHAN

]]> Comment on Standardization – Where Do We Start? by William DeSalvo http://www.sakura-americas.com/blog/wordpress/?p=42#comment-48 William DeSalvo Mon, 22 Feb 2010 17:44:11 +0000 http://www.sakura-americas.com/blog/wordpress/?p=42#comment-48 What is the thickness of the tissue and/or sampleas when fixed overnight? It would be very helpful to know the thickness to determine the penetration and amount of cross-linking. I would also like to know your processing protocol for the tissues processor (include solutions and time in the solution)? Normally, the overnight fixation w/ post fixation in Pen-Fix, a buffered alcoholic formalin solution, should be adequate to complete the fixation and this solution does not require a water wash before placing on the processor and starting the program. If you will provide aditional information, a "fix" to your problem may present itself. What is the thickness of the tissue and/or sampleas when fixed overnight? It would be very helpful to know the thickness to determine the penetration and amount of cross-linking. I would also like to know your processing protocol for the tissues processor (include solutions and time in the solution)? Normally, the overnight fixation w/ post fixation in Pen-Fix, a buffered alcoholic formalin solution, should be adequate to complete the fixation and this solution does not require a water wash before placing on the processor and starting the program. If you will provide aditional information, a “fix” to your problem may present itself.

]]> Comment on Standardization – Where Do We Start? by LOUANN http://www.sakura-americas.com/blog/wordpress/?p=42#comment-47 LOUANN Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:19:26 +0000 http://www.sakura-americas.com/blog/wordpress/?p=42#comment-47 HOW DO I KNOW MY QUESTION TODAY WENT THROUGH? HOW DO I KNOW MY QUESTION TODAY WENT THROUGH?

]]> Comment on Standardization – Where Do We Start? by LOUANN http://www.sakura-americas.com/blog/wordpress/?p=42#comment-46 LOUANN Mon, 22 Feb 2010 13:52:29 +0000 http://www.sakura-americas.com/blog/wordpress/?p=42#comment-46 WE ARE HAVING AN ISSUE WITH BREAST TISSUE NOT BEING FIXED. HERE IS WHAT WE DO. FIX OVERNIGHT IN FORMALIN, NEXT DAY 90 MINUTES IN PEN FIX, WASH 15 MINUTES IN RUNNING WATER. THEN PASS FOR THE NEXT DAY. WHEN WE TRY TO CUT THE SECTIONS THEY JUST DO NOT SEEM TO BE FIXED PROPERLY. SO WE PUT THEM BACK ON THE PROCESSOR ON THE REVERSE CYCLE, THEN PASS THEM AGAIN FOR THE NEXT DAY. ANY SUGGESTIONS WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED. WE ARE HAVING AN ISSUE WITH BREAST TISSUE NOT BEING FIXED. HERE IS WHAT WE DO. FIX OVERNIGHT IN FORMALIN, NEXT DAY 90 MINUTES IN PEN FIX, WASH 15 MINUTES IN RUNNING WATER. THEN PASS FOR THE NEXT DAY. WHEN WE TRY TO CUT THE SECTIONS THEY JUST DO NOT SEEM TO BE FIXED PROPERLY. SO WE PUT THEM BACK ON THE PROCESSOR ON THE REVERSE CYCLE, THEN PASS THEM AGAIN FOR THE NEXT DAY. ANY SUGGESTIONS WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED.

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