HISTOPATHOLOGY
The advantages of ready-to-use stain kits in the laboratory
Ready-made staining kits have the potential to save time, paperwork and reduce QA challenges in the pathology laboratory. Here, Atom Scientific makes the case for switching to these kits, along with the view from the laboratory.
One of the primary roles of the biomedical scientist in a pathology laboratory is preparing patient samples for analysis. The requirement is for them to be able to prepare samples both quickly and efficiently, while maintaining consistent quality and accuracy. And this is often under the pressures of time, budget and having enough skilled staff to
handle the workload of a busy laboratory. So, how does having access to pre-
formulated and validated stains and stain kits make a difference?
Stains – one of the three pillars If the first two pillars of histopathology include the processing and sectioning of a tissue specimen, the third pillar is
the staining process: one of the essential elements before presenting the sample to a pathologist for reporting. Therefore, biomedical scientists need the stains they use to work first time, work efficiently and be consistently reliable and of high quality. While tradition sometimes dictates that staff formulate their own stains in the laboratory, this can bring its own share of problems: along with tying up busy staff with a manual process, to be compliant with ISO15189 the results must be validated in house for every component prior to use.
In addition, always having the right chemicals to hand means sourcing, validating and storing the raw materials, plus awareness of expiry dates to meet tightening regulations, including UKAS accreditation of ISO standards. The idea that formulating stains from scratch in the laboratory is a cost-effective method is, more often, a false economy. The better option is using pre-formulated stain kits.
Atom Scientific has compared the cost of its stain kits to that of purchasing the individual components required to make each kit. It’s also important to note that the shelf life of the stain kits and separate raw materials are the same – and each subject to ISO15189 shelf-life requirements.
Though this information does not include the cost of sourcing, purchasing, storing, making or validating each component used in each stain kit, the company believes it demonstrates clearly the benefits of switching to pre-validated stain kits, and that costs can be recouped in a very short period of time.
Following the processing and sectioning of tissue, the staining process is the final stage of preparation before presenting the sample to a pathologist for reporting.
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Ensuring quality Employing ready-to-use and validated stain kits in the laboratory saves the modern biomedical scientist
APRIL 2025
WWW.PATHOLOGYINPRACTICE.COM
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