The Benefit Of Multiple Tissue Processing Runs

This study, conducted by the Leica Biosystems Content and Evidence Team, occurred at a small independent laboratory. The laboratory was interested in a complete review of their current processes and recommendations for quality and turn-around time improvements. As a result of the initial observations, the team focused on the laboratory’s tissue processing practices.

The Leica Biosystems Content and Evidence Team examined the laboratory’s current tissue processing schedule.  The laboratory uses a single tissue processor with one retort for one overnight batch run for all specimen types, including biopsies and routine tissue. Highly variable sizes in biopsy tissue versus routine tissue, and even fatty tissue, require significant time changes in the processing reagents. Combining tissue types into one overnight batch run can result in over-processing biopsies while not fully processing larger routine tissue. Tissue that is not initially processed sufficiently is pulled out of the daily workload and reprocessed on the next overnight processing run, delaying turn-around time on those cases by more than 24 hours.

As a result of this assessment, the recommendation is to separate processing schedules to accommodate the various tissue types and sizes:

• Run #1 overnight for 12 hours for the routine specimens
• Run #2 (optional) during the day for 2 hours for biopsies
• Run #3 a delayed run for biopsies received during the late afternoon 

To maintain the current workflow and the overlap of runs (that is, the delayed biopsy and 12-hour run), this processing model could only be accomplished by moving from 1 tissue processor to 2 tissue processors or from a single retort processor to a dual retort processor. 

Ultimately, to obtain the desired quality processed tissue samples, separate processing runs may be required appropriate to tissue size. The addition of a small biopsy run during the day, a delayed run for biopsies, and an overnight extended run for routine tissue can increase throughput and reduce turn-around time for biopsies.