Heat induced processing of cellblocks with significant reduction in overall turn around time

Abstract

Introduction: Cellblock (CB) with immunohistochemistry (IHC) is practically indispensable in the diagnostic workup of serous effusions; however, CB requires a minimum of 15–20 h for routine histopathological processing. A reduction in processing time can expedite a faster diagnosis. Aim: This study was undertaken to evaluate the utility of the heat-induced CB (HICB) technique. Material and Methods: Two sets of agar-embedded CBs were processed from 50 effusion samples. CBs were further processed by conventional and rapid methods. Conventional CBs (CCB) were processed in a histoprocessor, whereas rapid CB was processed in a heated water bath with an agitation facility. For HICB processing, dehydration and clearing were performed at 50°C followed by paraffin wax impregnation at 65°C temperature. From both CBs, sections of 5 um thickness were cut and stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H and E). Cell morphology, cost, and time were compared between the two methods. The feasibility of IHC was attempted in a few cases. Results: HICB was completed within 4.30 h compared with CCB. Diagnoses on both CBs were concordant in all the cases. Incomplete dehydration was noted in six (12%) cases, but the diagnosis was not compromised. No additional cost was involved in HICB. On IHC, both HICB and CCB exhibited equivalent expression. Conclusions: HICB is a rapid, innovative, simple, and cost-effective technique and expedites faster diagnosis. It does not require any advanced equipment.

Keywords

• cellblock
• heat-induced
• rapid
• serous effusions
• water bath