Effect of Environmental Concerns, Safety and Cost Containment on Tissue Handling

Abstract

Abstract Environmental concerns, safety and cost containment have made uS evaluate tissue preservation, processing and recycling. When we randomly reviewed a number of fixatives, Histochoice, Clarke, acetate buffered formalin, zinc formalin and neutral buffered formalin (NBF), we found that all gave good morphological detail on thin sections. However, thicker specimens (over 1 cm) were better preserved in the formalin fixatives. Zinc formalin gave excellent morphological detail but produced coarse nuclear detail for electron microscopy. Acetate buffered formalin was preferable to NBF because it could be neutralized and disposed of down the sink. We also found that the volume of fixative needed for tissue preservation was overestimated, as only enough for complete immersion of the tissue was sufficient. Reducing the number of changes of all solutions on the tissue processor and recycling the containers used in dispensing the formalin fixatives resulted in considerable savings both financially and environme...