Handling of Radical Prostatectomy Specimens: Total Embedding with Large-Format Histology

Table 1

Comparison between Dr. Vainer et al.’s study [8] and Ancona experience [3].

Features	Dr. Vainer et al.’s study	Ancona experience
Prostate weight and size (and volume)	Yes; (not mentioned)	Yes; (yes)
Fixation enhancement	Separating the two lobes	Formalin injection
Inking of the surface	Two colours, anterior, and posterior halves	One colour; orientation with a cut on the right
Presectioning fixation (time)	Acid formic (20 h) and 4% buffered formalin (24 h)	4% buffered formalin (24 h)
Sectioning interval	Approximately 3 mm (Apex and base: 5–10 mm)	3 mm (Apex and base: 3 mm)
Subdivision of the slices of the prostate body	Yes, to fit standard cassettes	No (whole mounts)
Seminal vesicles	As a minimum the apex and a cross-section	Sandwich method (all included)
Postsectioning fixation (time)	4% buffered formalin (not mentioned)	4% buffered formalin (24 h)
No. of cassettes/total slides (% examined)	18–76 (70%)	9–14 (100%)
Processing	Not mentioned	As for regular size cassettes
Slide size (section thickness)	7.5 cm by 2.5 cm (4 𝜇m)	7.5 cm by 5.0 cm (5 𝜇m)
Slide staining procedure	Not mentioned	Manual