Histotechnology I- Miscellaneous
Question No. 7. The Answer is: (B) Left in air for too long before fixation with methanol.
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Diagnosis: The artifacts being shown here are air dry artifacts because the unstained smear has been left in air for too long before fixation during intraoperative consultation. Thes artifacts can be seen in smear as illustrated here or in frozen sections. This tissue in this question was obtained from a pituitary adenoma. After the smear has been made, it should be fixed immediately. The author of this question prefers to use ethanol as fixative and have a container of methanol that would be reached within one second after the smear has been made. You can tell the difference between preparations with and without air dry artifacts. The cytologic details are all lost in the smear with air dry artifact. Both slides are obtained from the same pituitary adenoma and the photos are taken at the same magnification. Please note that nuclei with air dry artifacts are markedly blown up in size. One must be cautious when air dry artifact is not as dramatic as the one being shown here as the air dry artifact would blow up the size of the nuclei and lead to a wrong impression of increased nuclear size and pleomorphism during intraoperative consultations.
Leaving slides in alcohol and xylene for a prolonged period of time usually do not produce any noticeable artifacts. No hematoxylin can give you proper nuclear details and staining if there is air dry artifact.