Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Best fixation time for Diff-Quik stain of dog mast cell tumors
By Jackson, Dorothy E et al.·Published in Veterinary clinical pathology·2013·Department of Veterinary Medicine, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Evaluation of fixation time using Diff-Quik for staining of canine mast cell tumor aspirates.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of 21 dogs with mast cell tumors had fine-needle aspirates taken to check the quality of a common stain called Diff-Quik. The researchers tested different fixation times, ranging from 5 seconds to 2 minutes, to see if longer times would improve how well the tumor granules were stained. However, the results showed that changing the fixation time did not make a difference in the staining quality. This means that veterinarians can continue using Diff-Quik without worrying about adjusting the fixation time for better results.
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Abstract
BACKGROUND: Mast cell tumors are the most common cutaneous tumor in the dog and are often diagnosed via fine-needle aspiration and cytology. Many veterinary practices use Diff-Quik stain for these cases because it is easy to use and provides rapid results. Anecdotal reports suggest that Diff-Quik does not stain mast cell tumor granules well and that increased duration of fixation time can improve staining quality; however, this has not been prospectively evaluated. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to determine if varying fixation time would affect the staining quality of mast cell granules using the Diff-Quik stain. The null hypothesis was that there would be no difference in the staining of the granules based on duration of time in the fixation solution. METHODS: Fine-needle aspirates of cutaneous mast cell tumors were obtained from 21 dogs and distributed on multiple slides. These slides were then stained in Diff-Quik at varying fixation times (ie, 5 seconds, 30 seconds, 1 minute, 2 minutes). One slide was stained with modified Wright stain as a control. Mast cell staining quality was evaluated either by blinded clinicopathologic review (n = 12) or by computer analysis of photomicrographs (n = 6). Results were compared with histopathologic grade. RESULTS: There was no difference in staining quality among groups. CONCLUSIONS: Alteration in fixation time using Diff-Quik does not improve staining characteristics of mast cell tumors.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23278320/