Tissue Handling

Abstract

Bronchial and transbronchial biopsies are comparable in size to fine needle biopsies and seldom exceed 3 × 2 × 2 mm. They are usually too small for frozen sections. They should be placed directly into the fixative with minimum exposure to air, a process best performed by the endoscopist. Lung biopsies are very sensitive to crushing and squeezing artefacts. Several fixatives may be used. The use of buffered formalin (6.8<pH<7.8) is necessary when immunostaining is being contemplated. Bronchial and trans-bronchial biopsies should be cut in serial sections. It is important to cut the maximum area of the specimen due to its limited size and the crushing artefacts existing at its boundary. The thickness of the cut influences the diagnosis and should be less than 4 μm. The clinician must be provided with a special form indicating the kind of biopsy and the location from which it was taken. If it takes less time to transmit necessary information from the endoscopist to the pathologist, more of such information can be conveyed.