Hello Paula, I think 10 ml's at a time should be sufficient.
I hope this helps. v/r, Valerie Valerie A. Hannen, MLT(ASCP),HTL,SU(FL) Histology Section Chief Parrish Medical Center 951 N. Washington Ave. Titusville, Florida 32796 (321) 268-6111 ext. 7506 [email protected] ________________________________ From: Paula <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2026 11:41 AM To: Hannen, Valerie <[email protected]> Subject: RE: [EXTERNAL] [Histonet] GI biopsies Hi Valerie, We haven’t tried this, so I will ask them to add some. How much do you think: 10ml’s? Paula From: Hannen, Valerie [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 2026 1:01 PM To: Paula Subject: Re: [EXTERNAL] [Histonet] GI biopsies Good Afternoon, Have you tried adding alcohol to your water bath? It helps with the reducing the water surface tension and allows the tissue to "spread out" more and can eliminate some of the wrinkles. You don't have to add a lot of alcohol, but maybe do it frequently. I hope this helps V/r, Valerie A. Hannen, MLT(ASCP),HTL,SU(FL) Histology Section Chief Parrish Medical Center 951 N. Washington Ave. Titusville, Florida 32796 (321) 268-6111 ext. 7506 [email protected] ________________________________ From: Paula via Histonet <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 2026 3:46 PM To: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: [EXTERNAL] [Histonet] GI biopsies CAUTION: This email originated from outside of Parrish Healthcare. Please do not click on links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. If you are unsure or have questions, please contact the IT Department, ext. 6167, or submit an IT ticket. Actual Sender Address: [email protected] Begin Original Message: Dear Colleagues, I’m reaching out to the group to ask for input regarding microscopic folds in GI biopsy sections. I’m hoping for some “tricks of the trade” suggestions. In our lab, sections appear flat and well-relaxed on the water bath with no visible gross folds. However, after H&E staining, the pathologist identifies epithelial microfolds in small GI biopsies (esophagus, stomach, colon). These are not visible before staining and are occurring across multiple techs. We currently use Leica Paraplast Plus (polymer-enhanced paraffin). We have reviewed and optimized: • Embedding orientation (flat, mucosa aligned) • Water bath temperature and float time • Blade angle and cutting speed • Section thickness (4 µm) Despite this, we continue to see post-stain microfolding. For those of you who cut a high volume of GI biopsies: · Have you found certain paraffins perform better (e.g., low-melt, non-polymer)? · Do you run a different water bath temperature specifically for GI? · Any “tricks of the trade” for minimizing epithelial compression that aren’t in the textbooks? I would greatly appreciate any practical advice or shared experience. Thank you in advance for your insights. Best regards, Paula Lucas Histology Laboratory/BioPath Medical Group We are doing a lot more GI cases, and we’re experiencing complaints from the pathologist about folds. There are microscopic and are interfering with taking images. Can someone recommend tricks to the trade of minimizing these folds in the sections? Thank you in advance, Paula BioPath Medical Group _______________________________________________ Histonet mailing list [email protected] https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet__;!!CyM303mrztY!YGnabSY96kwspe1d_cHZKQw4KFF1L_wT7xiQL8z_dFXGY_VChC7hqo5UkOBPoenje7ZzmWETGcbchnoXIGjT6Zm-PNYjWSiwDrE1$<https://urldefense.com/v3/__http:/lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet__;!!CyM303mrztY!YGnabSY96kwspe1d_cHZKQw4KFF1L_wT7xiQL8z_dFXGY_VChC7hqo5UkOBPoenje7ZzmWETGcbchnoXIGjT6Zm-PNYjWSiwDrE1$> _______________________________________________ Histonet mailing list [email protected] http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet
