Debbie M. Boyd, HT(ASCP), Chief Histologist, Southside Regional Medical Center in Petersburg, Virginia asks:
>>This question is for those of you who perform fine needle aspirations. What >>stain are you using for your immediate evaluation? Or do you give an >>immediate evaluation/adequacy?<< This is a really good question that demands a careful answer. You need to do what your cytotechnologist and your pathologist are comfortable with. Air-dried smears stained with a rapid azure-eosin (Diff-Quik and generic equivalents) stain are simple and fast - IF your pathologist has been trained to interpret them, which I (I'm 70 years old, mind you) frankly wasn't. I can live with a good H and E stain - a full-dress Pap stain is nice, but probably takes too long to do. The cytotechnologist and pathologist certainly have to give an immediate decision as to the adequacy of the specimen. There's a CPT code for that, even. And sometimes what's needed is a flat-out diagnosis. But this is something that needs to be worked out in advance - not under the stress of a high-pressure clinical situation, but comfortably, with pizza or worse. Bob Richmond Samurai Pathologist Knoxville TN _______________________________________________ Histonet mailing list [email protected] http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet
