L is for Leucchart

Back in college, all the boys would have a funny smirk on their faces whenever our histopathology prof mentioned "L" pieces. The letter L suffered a green connotation back then... No wonder Leuchhart's "L" pieces got stuck in my mind! The L piece is a type of embedding mold for tissue biopsies. Oh, "L"? Don't you get it? I guess I'm the only one here with a dirty mind. (Naku, PM na lang nyo ako kung di nyo talaga ma-gets)

I guess not many would recall it but it was in an illustration on my dear old Gregorios' Histopath Techniques Book. I'd like to share that illustration here.

Not many has seen a Luechhart's embedding mold except of course in a picture in our histopath book! Apparently, histotechnologists found it neither practical nor convenient. But I knew that my life would be incomplete if I never got to see Luechhart's "L" piece. Thus, for years I searched high and low for it. Kinda a Holy Grail for me. Anyway, I located one just recently. Ehehe. To make this blog short, pakita ko na lang agad. Here it is folks.

Embedding is just one of the several steps in tissue processing. It is the process by which a tissue which has previously undergone impregnation is placed in a molten medium such as wax which would then be allowed to solidify. Several more steps shall follow but in the end ultimately this results in a glass slide that shall contain a slice of tissue ready for a pathologist's analytic eye.

Whew! I got tired explaining it. I wonder how tired I'd be when I get started on the biopsies waiting for me at our lab?!

What I do find practical and easy to use in embedding is the metal base mold and cassette or embedding ring. I guess this the most widely used method for embedding around the world. Except of course for our dear country which uses paper boats still. Paper boats are undisputedly the cheapest embedding mold there is. It also gets the job done.

We can get a pack of 250 pieces of embedding rings for PhP 1,750.00 but paper boat embedding molds can be made from old magazines for practically NO COST!

Ref.:

Gregorios, JB. (1974). Histopathologic Techniques. JMC Press.