Safe specimen transfer from the theatre to the lab
Products are for professional/laboratory use only.
To avoid degradation of tissue specimens from the surgical room to the laboratory, the specimens are traditionally placed into a fixative, commonly formalin. However, prefilled containers or empty containers to be filled with formalin can lead to health exposure of the surgical room staff should any spills happen. It may even lead to suspending the blocks’ operations.
Milestone SealSAFE
This is part one in the blog post series: Milestone’s Chain of Custody
Other posts:
Standardisation in specimen description at the grossing station
Optimisation and documentation at the fixation step
Standardisation of decalcification for optimum molecular testing
A first alternative of short term transportation of specimen can be found in a combination of vacuum storage and refrigeration thus delaying the introduction of formalin to the laboratory’s environment.
A second approach includes standardisation of formalin amount based on weight and specimen type with an enclosed addition of the fixative into a medical grade vacuum sealed bag. Through labelling and barcoding, the specimens can then be tracked and monitored from the surgical theatre to the anatomical pathology laboratory.
These two new methods provide an answer to the healthcare institutions that wish to eliminate or minimise the use of formalin for transportation of tissues while maintaining high quality results.
The SealSAFE is the world’s first automatic system that fills dedicated bags containing the biospecimens, with the required fixative (i.e. formalin), in a standardized and documented way. This innovative technology, allows operators at surgery rooms and at pathology laboratories, to handle histology specimens in full safety.
Today’s manual operation to prepare, transport and stock histology specimens, can be drastically improved with this technology.
Advantages of the SealSAFE
- Standardisation and quality
- Less formalin
- Safety
- Improved archiving
- Extreme cost saving for disposal
