Microwave processing: A boon for oral pathologists

BACKGROUND: Research in oral and maxillofacial pathology has unlimited potential. We use every technology available to us for better and faster reliable diagnosis. But in most institutions, private laboratories and multispecialty hospitals, tissue processing takes considerable time, and therefore delays the diagnosis, which is required in urgent cases. We, in this institution, conducted a study to hasten the processing by using a simple kitchen microwave. AIM: To analyze tissue sections processed by microwave as compared to the gold standard of conventional processing. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: Studies published from 1970 till 2008, used body tissues such as brain, liver, kidney, heart, and lungs, for microwave processing. Oral tissues were not processed in microwave till now, except one study by Dr Shivaparthasundaram et al., in 2008. This is the second such study that used a sample size of 50 cases. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A kitchen microwave was used for irradiation of the tissues. Conventional processing was carried out as per departmental protocol. A total of 50 microwave-coded slides were mixed with 50 conventional slides. All 100 slides were evaluated by four different pathologists. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: The result was subjected to statistical analysis using Chi-square test. RESULT AND CONCLUSION: It was found that to make a diagnosis, microwave-processed tissue were at par with the conventional technique. Thus, it is time to move on from conventional processing to microwave processing to yield faster and reliable results.