You may wish to remove some lymph nodes for immediate fixation and processing before gross pathology. Although radical cases may be fixed whole, they will fix more rapidly if small cuts are made into the tissue or if the tissue has been bread loafed. Place the tissue in a container and cover with Dissect Aid. We recommend that 10 times the volume of fixative to tissue ratio be used. Specimens that have been bread loafed or sliced through should fix within 3-4 hours.
Processing is routine once fixation has occurred.
Dissect Aid contains alcohol, water, formaldehyde and glacial acetic acid. It will also firm up the ancillary fat in lymph node embedded tissue. Lastly, it will turn all lymph nodes a pale white so that they stand out in the surrounding tissue mass.