ASCP H case studies
ASCP H · Put your knowledge to work in context.
The ASCP Histotechnology (H) certification examination is a professional credentialing exam for histology laboratory personnel - the technologists and technicians who prepare tissue sections that pathologists read. Candidates are typically graduates of a histotechnology program or experienced laboratory professionals who want formal recognition of their competence in tissue-based laboratory work. The ASCP H case studies are 6 cases and about 4,345 words.
1The 4-Hour Fixation Window: A Colon Slice That Went to Alcohol Too Soon
A 2.5 cm sigmoid resection arrives in the grossing room at 09:15, already opened and loosely covered in 10% NBF. The only grosser is pulled away to a frozen section and returns at 14:00.
688 words, about 3 min2Flat-Embedded Skin Ellipse: When Margins Cannot Be Called
A 1.8 x 0.8 cm elliptical skin excision containing a 6 mm melanoma (Breslow 1.4 mm) is received inked in two colors: black for the peripheral margin, blue for the deep margin. The block is embedded flat, so the epidermal surface lies parallel to the block face, and the first sections show a broad ellipse of epidermis and dermis in one plane.
725 words, about 4 min3Monday Crisp, Friday Grey: A Weekly Staining Gradient
The laboratory's stainer is a dip-and-dunk rack system running two racks of 30 slides per 20-minute cycle, about 350 slides per day. Gill's III hematoxylin is a 500 mL bath replaced every Monday morning and filtered daily; bluing is a running tap-water bath; eosin follows.
692 words, about 3 min4A Silver Stain Where the Control Is Beautiful and the Patient Is Not
A renal core biopsy for suspected membranous nephropathy is cut at 2 micrometers, floated on a 42 C water bath, and picked up on a charged slide. The Jones methenamine silver run, performed in a Coplin jar in a 60 C oven, includes a positive control (autopsy kidney) cut at 4 micrometers from a different block on an uncharged slide.
689 words, about 3 min5A Five-Day-Old Prostate Core and a Stain That Cannot Be Read
A paraffin block from an outside hospital arrives with a 1 mm prostate needle core and a note that the specimen was collected 5 days before processing. The in-house laboratory performs a p63/AMACR (P504S) double stain on a 4 micrometer section with EDTA pH 9 retrieval, 20 minutes at 100 C.
731 words, about 4 min6Two and a Half Liters on the Grossing Room Floor
At 15:40 in the grossing room, a 2.5 L container of 10% neutral buffered formalin tips over. About 1.5 square meters of floor, including the area under the sink, is covered.
820 words, about 4 min