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Electrolytic decalcification: reducing turnaround times for bone marrow trephines

Reduction in tissue processing time enables a diagnosis to be made more quickly, and nowhere is this more important than in dealing with bone marrow biopsies, as Patrick McCormack explains in this method assessment.

Histopathology laboratories are coming under increasing pressure to deliver higher volumes of work more cost-effectively and within a shorter turnaround time. A particular challenge is how to maintain quality in the face of these increasing time and cost pressures.

The production of high-quality bone marrow trephine (BMT) sections has always been time-consuming, usually entailing at least two days’ acid decalcification to facilitate the production of thin, good-quality sections. Bone marrow trephines are pivotal to the successful evaluation of many haematological disorders, and a rapid result is highly desirable to enable early therapy to be instituted.

The histopathology department at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH) was recently faced with a significant increase in BMT cases referred from regional hospitals. As such, these specimens had already experienced a delay of at least a day through transportation, so that there was considerable pressure to produce results more quickly, but without compromising on the cellular detail that is an important part of the diagnosis of these conditions.

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