Frozen section - Frozen Section preparation

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Frozen section

Frozen Section preparation

Author: Jessica Wallace (see Reviewers page)
Revised: 23 October 2011, last major update October 2011
Copyright: (c) 2011, PathologyOutlines.com, Inc.

General
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● Tissue should be received fresh, otherwise it will not stay on slide
● At time of receipt of tissue, decide whether to obtain smears or touch-preps, and whether to freeze all or part of it
● Touch preps and smears are often performed on lymph nodes suspicious for lymphoma
● Some primary small lesions should not be entirely submitted for frozen section
● There is debate on whether sentinel nodes should be entirely or representatively submitted for frozen section
● Fixed tissue: there are special slides to keep tissue affixed to slide
● To freeze fixed tissue, make sure it has been preserved in formalin and not alcoholic fixatives like Carnoy’s, because tissue fixed in alcohol is harder to freeze
● Avoid freezing tissue fixed with heavy metal salts such as B5 and Helly’s (Zenker’s formal solution), which can denature proteins and shrink the tissue

End of Frozen section > Frozen Section preparation

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