Frozen Sections

A frozen section cryosection is a pathological laboratory technique used for rapid microscopic analysis diagnosis of a specimen disease usually used with oncologic surgery rapid diagnosis can guide intra operative patient management.

Frozen sections. H e is simple to perform inexpensive and reliable. H e is the most commonly used of all the various staining methods available in frozen section. The frozen section procedure is a pathological laboratory procedure to perform rapid microscopic analysis of a specimen.

While frozen sections are physically less stable than paraffin they are especially superior in the preservation of antigenicity and lipid retention. I suggest sitting on an adjustable stool at a height that allows your arms to most comfortably drape to the stage best allowing your left hand to assume the hand position discussed below. It is a simple matter of nature that fat will not freeze.

The quality of the slides produced by frozen section is of lower quality than formalin fixed paraffin embedded tissue processing. The tissue holder or chuck is then set upon a freezing temperature bar. Hematoxylin is a natural dye derived from the haematoxylon campechianum logwood tree a tree native to campeche s mexican state.

Frozen sectioning is the method of choice when paraffin processing may interfere with any downstream techniques. The december 28 2005 issue of jama includes an article about the origins of the frozen section technique. The technical name for this procedure is cryosection.

When cutting a frozen section we need to be relaxed and comfortable in order to have maximum control of the left hand. It can be made hard enough to cut thin sections at very low temperatures but these temperatures are too cold for obtaining good sections of the non fatty tissues that are often present in the same sample. The frozen section is the rapid tissue section by cooling the tissue with the help of cryostat to provide immediate report of the tissue sample.

Frozen sectioning is the procedure of cutting thin sections of frozen tissue and is conducted in a cryostat. The rapid freezing of the tissue sample converts the water into ice. Common examples include oil red o staining for lipids removed during paraffin processing and antibodies whose epitopes are masked or destroyed by the ethanols and xylenes and heat involved with paraffin processing.