Unoriented skin ellipse grossing

The article deals with small unoriented skin ellipse grossing.

Punch biopsies and oriented skin ellipses are dealt with separately.

Introduction

These specimens are very common.

Protocol

• Name and patient identifiers on the requisition match the specimen container.
• Specimen labelled as: "[ ]".
• Specimen received in: [formalin/fresh].
• Type: unoriented portion of skin measuring [ ] x [ ] cm (in the plane of surface), by [ ] cm (depth).
• Inking: resection margin blue. †
• Lesion: [ brown ] colour, [ diffuse / patchy] with a [ regular / irregular ] border.
• Lesion dimensions: [ ] x [ ] cm (in the plane of surface), by [ ] cm (depth).
• Margins: [ ] peripheral cm, [ ] deep cm.

Serially sectioned with cuts perpendicular to the long axis:

• Block A1 - tips.
• Block A2 - remainder of specimen.

Protocol notes

• † One should avoid black ink if there is any suspicion of melanoma or if the lesion is pigmented. This can be remember by black is bad and green is good!
  • In general, green and blue are the preferred marking ink colours as they are easier to see at the time of embedding.

See also

• Dermatopathology.