Microwave-assisted Staining Procedures in Routine Histopathology

The use and practicability of microwave-assisted staining procedures in routine histopathology over more than three years has been evaluated. A domestic microwave oven was used to speed up the following staining procedures: Haematoxylin-Eosin (for frozen sections), Romanowsky-Giemsa, Periodic acid-Schiff (PAS), Ziehl-Neelson, Papanicolaou, Feulgen and Grocott--stain on buffered formalin fixed sections or cytologic smears. These staining procedures can be made highly reproducible providing; (1) Staining vessels are placed in the same position inside the oven; (2) Accurate timing in seconds is observed. Microwave-assisted staining procedures are equal to or even superior to those of the standard methods. Staining times can be reduced to 2%-10% of the conventional staining procedures. The basic staining protocols are presented.