Cellular Pathology: Preparation of Specimens

Histopathology

All specimens must be sent in fixative, except in special circumstances where other arrangements have been made (e.g. for frozen section requests). The recommended fixative is 10% Neutral Buffered Formalin (NBF), which is a hazardous reagent and instructions for dealing with it should be followed carefully.

Please use a container large enough to accommodate the specimen without forcing it in, and sufficient volume of fixative (at least 10x the volume of the specimen).

Please note, all histology tests have been verified using 10% NBF. Due to the nature of histological samples (most samples cannot be repeated) the department will not currently reject samples received in 10% formal saline. These samples will be transferred to 10% NBF at the earliest opportunity.

For Oral Pathology samples for immunofluorescence, please contact St John’s Institute of Dermatology (020 7188 6364).

Frozen Sections – UCLH cases

Requests for a frozen section must be made on 020 3912 0349. If you know in advance that you will require a frozen section, please book as promptly as possible, giving the date, time, patient’s name, specimen type, infection status, consultant’s name, your bleep number and the theatre number for telephoning the result.

For health and safety reasons, it is departmental policy not to carry out a frozen section on known positive patients for TB, HIV, Hep C and Covid-19 cases if the patient is still compromised or not under treatment. If you are in any doubt about this, please speak to the Consultant Histopathologist on duty, who can be contacted via 020 3456 8402. In such cases it is usually possible to arrange an urgent paraffin section which can be reported later the same day.

Specimens must be taken immediately to the Histology laboratory, Specimen Reception, 2nd Floor, 60 Whitfield Street, London W1T 4EU, in a suitable rigid container which prevents patient identifiable data from being seen by members of the public and is compliant with UN3373 regulations. These can be found on the wards and theatres. A courier service is used at Westmoreland Street.

Full instructions are posted in each theatre; if this is not the case please inform the 60WS Cellular Pathology Operations Manager on 020 3912 0350.

Frozen Sections – RFH cases

Requests for a frozen section must be made on Ext 35180. If you know in advance that you will require a frozen section, please book as promptly as possible, giving the date, time, patient’s name, specimen type, infection status, consultant’s name, your bleep number and the theatre number for telephoning the result.

For health and safety reasons, it is departmental policy not to carry out a frozen section on known positive patients for TB, HIV, Hep C cases if the patient is still compromised or not under treatment. If you are in any doubt about this, please speak to the Consultant Histopathologist on duty. In such cases it is usually possible to arrange an urgent formalin fixed paraffin embedded section which can be reported later the same day.

Specimens must be taken immediately to the Histology laboratory, Specimen Reception, 2nd Floor, adjacent to room 2/429 , in a suitable rigid container which prevents patient identifiable data from being seen by members of the public and is compliant with UN3373 regulations.

Diagnostic Cytology

All samples should reach the laboratory as soon as possible and preferably early in the working day to avoid deterioration of cells. Samples should be received in the department by 4.00pm.

If a delay in transportation is anticipated or samples have been taken out of hours then they should be kept refrigerated at 4°C.

There is no out of hours Cytology service.

Full instructions are posted in each theatre; if this is not the case please inform the 60WS Cellular Pathology Operations Manager on 020 3912 0350.