A Nuclear Artifact of Lymphoid Tissue

Abstract

Several tissue sections of a cervical lymph node diagnosed as lymphoma presented on light microscopy with an unusual nuclear artifact of lymphoid cells after fixation in 10% neutral buffered formalin and staining with hematoxylin and eosin. Nuclei appeared shrunken with homogeneous dispersion of chromatin and spiked at their periphery. Inadequate irnrnersion of tissue sections in one paraffin bath, leaving blocks uncovered, was found to have caused the artifact. When routine care was exercised in replacing, or at least rotating, paraffin baths each time the tissue processor was changed to fresh fixative, dehydrants, and clearing agents, the problem was resolved. (The J Histotechnol 16:365, 1993)