A simple way to improve immunoreactivity of prostate needle biopsies fixed in bouin's solution to AMACR

摘要

Immunoreactivity of atypical acini of the prostate to oc-methylacyl-coen-zyme A racemase (AMACR) favors the diagnosis of adenocarcinoma. Positivity for AMACR (or P504S) has been reported in the great majority of prostatic adenocarcinomas and is particularly useful for the detection of small foci of carcinoma in needle biopsies.Bouin's solution is routinely used for fixation of prostate needle biopsies in some pathology laboratories, because it enhances nuclear detail when hematoxylin-eosin sections are observed. This is very important for the diagnosis of prostatic carcinoma.2 Bouin's solution is composed of picric acid and formalin. Fixation in Bouin solution must not be for too long (a few hours or less depending on the size of the specimen) and, then, the tissue must be washed with ethanol to completely eliminate the picric acid. The tissue may be kept in ethanol until processing.