Ceramic foam plates: A new tool for processing fresh radical prostatectomy specimens - Abstract

Procurement of fresh tissue of prostate cancer is critical for biobanking and generation of xenograft models as an important preclinical step towards new therapeutic strategies in advanced prostate cancer.

However, handling of fresh radical prostatectomy specimens has been notoriously challenging given the distinctive physical properties of prostate tissue and the difficulty to identify cancer foci on gross examination. Here, we have developed a novel approach using ceramic foam plates for processing freshly cut whole mount sections from radical prostatectomy specimens without compromising further diagnostic assessment. Forty-nine radical prostatectomy specimens were processed and sectioned from the apex to the base in whole mount slices. Putative carcinoma foci were morphologically verified by frozen section analysis. The fresh whole mount slices were then laid between two ceramic foam plates and fixed overnight. To test tissue preservation after this procedure, formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded whole mount sections were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and analyzed by immunohistochemistry, fluorescence, and silver in situ hybridization (FISH and SISH, respectively). There were no morphological artifacts on H&E stained whole mount sections from slices that had been fixed between two plates of ceramic foam, and the histological architecture was fully retained. The quality of immunohistochemistry, FISH, and SISH was excellent. Fixing whole mount tissue slices between ceramic foam plates after frozen section examination is an excellent method for processing fresh radical prostatectomy specimens, allowing for a precise identification and collection of fresh tumor tissue without compromising further diagnostic analysis.

Written by:
Vlajnic T, Oeggerli M, Rentsch C, PĆ¼schel H, Zellweger T, Thalmann GN, Ruiz C, Bubendorf L.   Are you the author?
Institute of Pathology, University Hospital Basel, Schoenbeinstrasse 40, 4031, Basel, Switzerland.  

Reference: Virchows Arch. 2014 Oct 17. Epub ahead of print.
doi: 10.1007/s00428-014-1665-8


PubMed Abstract
PMID: 25323812

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