HISTOPATHOLOGY LABORATORY TAKE HOME QUIZ

Name: REYES, Reyza Jane B. Date Submitted: 3/24

Time: PHT LAB T 11-2

1. What is the most important step and common cause of error in

histopathology? And WHY?
- FIXATION. Inadequate or poor fixation will result in a poorly processed
tissue and will make it difficult for the pathologist to render a proper
diagnosis.
2. How to receive a histopathology specimen?
- At the time of receiving the specimens, following points should be checked
and these points must match between requisition form and label on the
sample container 1. Name of the patient 2. Sex and age of patient 3.
Registration no, OPD or indoor number 4. Type of sample like appendix or
lymph node After matching the above points carefully, accession number
of the Histopathology laboratory should be given on the requisition form
and on the sample container like it has been depicted in the form and
sample bottle
3. How to Label a histopathology specimen?
- 1. Date
- 2. Accession number which was given by the pathology department
- 3. Patients name, age, sex
- 4. Patients registration number/ OPD/ indoor number
- 5. Type of sample
- 6. Number of samples received from one patient
- 7. Remarks / final diagnosis which may be entered later on
4. What is the proper labelling tool for histopathology and why do we need to
use it?
- use a diamond-tip pencil directly on the glass. This is very permanent, but
it's more trouble than frosted slides - something of an art, especially if you
need to write quite a lot on each slide.
5. Give the recommended storage time of the following:
a. Tissue Specimen - 2 to 4 weeks after the issuance of a final report
b. Tissue Blocks - at least 10 years
c. Tissue Slides – 5 years
6. Why do we need to preserve the intensity and quality of a tissue slides?
- to preserve tissues permanently in as life-like a state as possible.
7. How to prepare for the following:
a. 10% Formaldehyde Formaldehyde 40% = 100mL  NaCl = 9gm 
Distilled water = 900mL
b. Aqueous Nitric Add Solution 10% we dissolve 15.4 g of 65 % by
mass nitric acid in 100 mL of water.
8. In tabulated form give the “General Schedule for Alcohol Dehydration”

10% Zenker Bouin’s Susa, Flemming’s

Formol- or Fluid Carnoy or Fluid
Saline Helly’s Formol-
Sublimate
Running 1-12 1-12
Water
Alc. 30% 1-6 ½-3
Alc. 50% 1-6 ½-3
Alc. 70% 13-5 1-6 13-12 ½-3
Alc. 90% 13-5 1-6 13-12 1-6 1-3
Absolute Alc. 13-5 1-6 13-12 1-6 1-3
Absolute Alc. 13-5 1-6 13-12 1-6 1-3
Albolute Alc. 13-5 1-6 13-12 1-6 1-3
-
9. What is the special tissue technique that should be done after fixation and
before impregnation? WHY?
- Secondary Fixation
o To improve the demonstration of particular substances.
o To make special staining techniques possible.
o To ensure further and complete hardening and preservation of
tissues
10. Tissue Processing: Explain the following below.
✓ Fixation - Killing, penetration and hardening of tissues
✓ Dehydration - is simply the removal of water from aqueous-fixed tissue.
Since most fixatives are aqueous, this step is necessary to prepare the
tissue for embedding in non-aqueous media like paraffin.
✓ Clearing - are used throughout the histology lab in the processes of
tissue and slide preparation—to remove alcohol and other dehydrants
from tissues prior to embedding (usually in paraffin wax), and from
finished slides prior to mounting
✓ Impregnation - is the process of complete removal of clearing reagents
by substitution of paraffin or any such similar media such as beeswax.
✓ Embedding - is the process in which the tissues or the specimens are
enclosed in a mass of the embedding medium using a mould. Since the
 tissue blocks are very thin in thickness they need a supporting medium
in which the tissue blocks are embedded.
✓ Trimming - to create an even, flat surface in the area of interest in the
tissue so that the histologists to not have to face (cut with the
microtome) into the paraffin block as deeply when trying to get the first
good sections for a slide.
✓ Section-Cutting - is the technique of making the very thin slices of
tissue specimens for the microscopic examination to identify the
abnormalities or atypical appearance in the tissue (if present) and also
for the study of various components of the cells or tissues like Lipids,
Enzymes, Antigens
✓ Staining – is used to highlight important features of the tissue as well
as to enhance the tissue contrast.
✓ Mounting - To preserve and support a stained section for light
microscopy, it is mounted on a clear glass slide, and covered with a
thin glass coverslip.
✓ Labelling - Always label samples at the time of collection in the
presence of the patient. Use a minimum of two patient identifiers on
every sample submitted for testing. (Culling, 1974)

References
Culling, C. (1974). Handbook of Histopathological and Histochemical Techniques (Including Museum
Techniques), Third Edition.