I was taught at AFIP to expect shrinkage of 10%, in each dimension. So I guess that's 30% shrinkage overall? Shrinkage is partially caused by formalin crosslinking the proteins in fixation, and partially by dehydration. Maybe a little shrinkage in xylene too? From removal of fat in adipose tissues? http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00695061#page-1
Is your Pathologist really concerned about shrinkage, or about curling and distortion of small shave bxs? Because a certain degree of shrinkage is an unavoidable artifact of tissue processing. If it's the latter, I like to use 2 blue sponges. I find they really help to keep things flat and oriented. Some people don't like them because of carryover. I just say change your processor reagents more often. Sincerely, Jay A. Lundgren, M.S., HTL (ASCP) On Mon, Feb 22, 2016 at 9:59 AM, Gudrun Lang via Histonet < histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu> wrote: > Hi! > > Today someone asked me about shrinkage caused by the fixation with > formaldehyde specially on skin-biopsies. She spoke about shrinkage of 30% > percent. In my opinion shrinkage is mainly caused by the processing with > dehydration and defatting. Formaldehyde renders the tissue harder but not > strictly smaller. > > > > What is the opinion of the community? > > > > Gudrun > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Histonet mailing list > Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu > http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet > _______________________________________________ Histonet mailing list Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet