Specimen Requirements

Specimen Handling:

1. In order to prevent autolysis, tissue sections need to be preserved as soon as possible upon removal. Specimens from anywhere in the hospital should be immediately transmitted to the histology department of the laboratory. The tissue is placed in 10%formalin upon arrival unless otherwise directed. The containers must be properly labeled. The label needs to include two identifiers.

2.EXCEPTIONS: a. frozen section specimens b. lymph nodes requiring lymph node protocol c. tissue for culture are not placed in formalin. d. placenta for chromosome studies or fetus over 20 weeks. These specimens should be immediately transported to the laboratory and someone in the department alerted. Do NOT leave a fresh specimen anywhere without notifying the laboratory staff or a pathologist.