Rapid Tissue Processing: Transplant Patients

Turnaround time is a critical factor that will determine how each institution processes liver biopsies. Clinicians may require rapid, same-day diagnosis for patients who have had a liver or bone marrow transplant. Clinicians may be looking for conditions such as acute organ rejection or graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). GVHD is discussed in detail later in this course.

Two modes of "rapid" processing are carried out in today's histopathology laboratory. These are done with the use of a microwave tissue processor or by modifying a conventional biopsy tissue processing cycle to a 1.5–2.5 hour same day, rapid program. The specific length of processing is dependent on the size of the tissue and time in formalin prior to arriving in the laboratory to ensure adequate tissue fixation. Laboratory staff may refer to these specimens using a variety of terms such as rush, first out, priority, or STAT.

Below in Table 1 is an example of a 1.5 hour same day, rapid tissue processing program.