We are experiencing a staining artefact on our H&E's, most commonly seen on skin specimens, but also observed on other specimen types as well. Within the dermis and subcutaneous regions of the skin specimens, there are portions of what should be collagen that appear homogenized and stained with hematoxylin, instead of the usual eosin staining. It's often on the edge of the section and varies in size between different specimens. The pathologist is normally able to read around it, but there have been cases that were made more difficult to diagnosis by this artefact. Our pathologists believe this artefact resembles cautery artefact, but the dermatologists insist they are not using cautery during collection. We have a large derm service, and most of our derm specimens fix overnight. We have both microwave and conventional processing, and the "artefact" specimens have been processed on both. All of these specimens have grossing ink on them. Any thoughts on what could be causing this? If it's not cautery, does it seem like a fixation issue? Has anyone seen grossing ink affect processing? Thanks ahead of time for your help. Roger
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