Patent ID: 8163252
Filing Date: 2012-04-24
Classification: A61B,B01L,G01N

Abstract:
1. A tissue kit for receiving prostate biopsies that facilitates efficient histological processing of the tissue samples, the tissue kit comprising: a plurality of tissue cassettes configured to receive tissue samples directly from at least one biopsy device used by a physician to obtain tissue samples from a prostate gland of a patient, wherein the plurality of tissue cassettes comprises at least twelve tissue cassettes, the plurality of tissue cassettes are adapted to retain the tissue samples during transport and during histological processing of the tissue samples, each of the plurality of tissue cassettes has a bottom portion and a top portion, the bottom portion defines at least one tissue receiving well and houses a tissue receiving material, the tissue receiving material comprises a sponge material, the top portion forms a lid to the bottom portion, the top portion is pivotably coupled to the bottom portion and is movable between a first closed position and a second open position, the top portion is releasably coupled to the bottom portion in a snap fit configuration in the first closed position, the bottom portion and the top portion each comprise a plurality of openings wherein the openings are small enough to contain the tissue sample within the tissue cassette during transport and during histological processing, but large enough to allow for a fluid to enter the tissue cassette during transport and during histological processing, wherein the plurality of tissue cassettes contain no fixative at the time of distribution to the physician, wherein the plurality of tissue cassettes include pre-assigned identifying indicia, wherein the pre-assigned identifying indicia comprise human readable alphanumeric characters indicating the body sites from where the prostate biopsy tissue samples are to be collected, wherein each tissue cassette corresponds to a single body site in that each of the tissue cassettes comprises a unique combination of human readable alphanumeric characters describing a unique prostate gland location to be sampled, the unique combinations of human readable alphanumeric characters are pre-assigned and marked on the plurality of tissue cassettes of the tissue kit prior to use of the tissue kit such that when each prostate gland tissue sample is collected by the physician the tissue sample is placed directly into the tissue cassette marked with the unique pre-assigned identifying indicia that corresponds to the unique single body site from which the tissue sample was taken; and at least one vessel containing a fixative, wherein the fixative comprises formalin, the at least one vessel comprises a first vessel having a size and configuration sufficient to hold at least half of the plurality of tissue cassettes of the tissue kit after the tissue samples have been placed directly into the plurality of tissue cassettes, wherein the amount of fixative within the first vessel is less than 280 ml but is sufficient to preserve the tissue samples retained within the at least half of the plurality of tissue cassettes when the tissue cassettes are positioned within the first vessel prior to histological processing.