An advanced digital image-capture computer system for gross specimens: a substitute for gross description.

The description of macroscopic appearances of surgically excised specimens together with the sites of specimen sampling form an important component in the documentation of a histopathology specimen. Unfortunately, accuracy of description depends on the vocabulary and descriptive prowess of the pathologist which means that the result can be variable. Transcription of the dictated word also takes time and involves typists. We developed a user-friendly, high-resolution image capture system that will supplement word description of macroscopic specimens and has the potential to replace it completely. It also provides the opportunity of revisiting traditional methods of documenting specimens with words, allowing the production of more relevant and user-friendly reports containing information relevant to clinical management and supplemented by high-resolution digital images. The accompanying Windows-based software has capabilities of generating the entire histopathology report and allows rapid retrospective searches through any one of several common search parameters. The stored images form a powerful database for teaching and research. Connection to remote transmission facilities allows teleconferencing and telepathology consultations.

The two-step vacuum-microwave method for histoprocessing.

When microwaving and vacuum is combined, decrease of boiling temperature can be exploited in the histoprocessing procedures allowing a completely novel approach for impregnating tissue with paraffin. We found that, if the pressure is sufficiently low in the paraffin step, no ethyl-alcohol step is necessary for the dehydration. In that case, the fixed tissue blocks can be directly placed into the isopropanol and, after that, in the hot paraffin, in which the final dehydration of the tissue takes place. The full histoprocessing procedure can thus be shortened into two steps only, with a processing time (for 72 biopsies) of a mere 40 min. Working completely without ethyl alcohol might be of interest for countries in which ethyl alcohol is difficult or expensive to obtain. We conclude that vacuum-microwave histoprocessing allows us to omit ethyl-alcohol dehydration and to replace xylene, resulting in a two-step 'green' (ecological) method.