Christine Bark asks about saws for cutting surgical pathology bone specimens like femoral heads.
I posted something to Histonet about this fairly recently - here it is again. **************************** Stephen Peters, a pathologist in Hackensack NJ, describes for us a bone saw he's invented. His Web site is distinctly worth looking at, the whole thing, not just the saw. http://pathologyinnovations.com/bone_vise.htm Some other possibilities for sawing bone: Many of the small pathology services I work for have no way of sawing bone. (It's amazing how many pathologists there are who are so poorly trained that they think you decalcify a femoral head by tossing the whole thing in formalin for a month.) In that circumstance, I head for the nearest hardware store and buy a five dollar hacksaw which I leave behind at the end of the week. The Civil War vintage Satterlee amputation saw is still available, and is a serviceable hand saw that doesn't go dull quickly. (I've seen them, complete with chrome plating, at Civil War re-enactments.) This is the tool I most commonly use. One of the standard vendors offers a simple device for slabbing a femoral head, the SawBones, absurdly overpriced at $500, not something a hospital would be likely to buy for a mere pathologist. Several years ago I attended a continuing medical education program where the lecturer recommended a scroll saw, a large table saw that's about impossible to injure yourself with. At the time they cost about $100 for Made in China, otherwise $200. The disadvantage, in a cramped pathology lab, is its large footprint. You can look at these things at your local Home Depot. There's no way to cut a femoral head safely with an oscillating autopsy saw (Stryker saw), though this is probably the most common way to cut bone. I think femoral heads removed for fracture (not for osteoarthritis) really do need to be examined microscopically, because of the occasional pathologic fracture (fracture through metastatic cancer in the bone). I've seen several of these, not all with a previous cancer diagnosis. (But I see no reason to examine knee replacement material microscopically, if you know how to do the gross description properly - which admittedly most pathologists don't.) (I have no connection with any of the businesses I've mentioned.) Bob Richmond Samurai Pathologist Knoxville TN _______________________________________________ Histonet mailing list Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet