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Published on: August 11, 2023
Heat Induced Processing of Cellblocks with Significant Reduction in Overall Turn Around Time
Suhas Dhende1, Saleem Pathuthara1, Neelam Prabhudesai1
1Department of Cytopathology, Tata Memorial Hospital, Tata Memorial Centre, Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
Introduction:
Cellblock (CB) with immunohistochemistry (IHC) is practically indispensable in the diagnostic workup of serous effusions; however, CB requires a minimum of 15-20 h for routine histopathological processing. A reduction in processing time can expedite a faster diagnosis.
Aim:
This study was undertaken to evaluate the utility of the heat-induced CB (HICB) technique.
Material And Methods:
Two sets of agar-embedded CBs were processed from 50 effusion samples. CBs were further processed by conventional and rapid methods. Conventional CBs (CCB) were processed in a histoprocessor, whereas rapid CB was processed in a heated water bath with an agitation facility. For HICB processing, dehydration and clearing were performed at 50°C followed by paraffin wax impregnation at 65°C temperature. From both CBs, sections of 5 um thickness were cut and stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H and E). Cell morphology, cost, and time were compared between the two methods. The feasibility of IHC was attempted in a few cases.
Results:
HICB was completed within 4.30 h compared with CCB. Diagnoses on both CBs were concordant in all the cases. Incomplete dehydration was noted in six (12%) cases, but the diagnosis was not compromised. No additional cost was involved in HICB. On IHC, both HICB and CCB exhibited equivalent expression.
Conclusions:
HICB is a rapid, innovative, simple, and cost-effective technique and expedites faster diagnosis. It does not require any advanced equipment.
