Method and Apparatus for Tissue Processing

1 . A method of melting material for use in tissue processing including placing the material, in solid form, into a bath and applying heat to melt the material, wherein the material has a volume, which is substantially similar in both melted and solid forms, that substantially equates to a predetermined fill volume of the bath sufficient to effect required tissue processing.

2 . A method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the material is provided in the form of one or more unitary blocks.

3 . A method as claimed in claim 1 , including, placing at least one of the blocks in abutting relationship with a surface of the bath, the at least one block being configured to conform to the surface.

4 . A method as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the material is melted by applying heat to the surface.

5 . A method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the material is mounted on a spike to which heat is applied to facilitate melting of the material.

6 . A method as claimed in claim 1 , including placing a weighted plate on the material to force the material downwardly into the bath.

7 . A method as claimed in claim 6 , wherein material is melted in adjacent baths and associated plates are placed on the material in each bath, the plates being joined by a connection which provides an indication of the presence of the plates within the baths when submerged.

8 . A method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein heat of between 50° C. to 80° C. is applied in order to melt the material which is in the form of a wax.

9 . A method as claimed in claim 5 , wherein heat in the order of 65° C. is applied to 4 kg of material, for less than 4-5 hours so as to produce approximately 5 litres of molten material.

10 . A block of material for a tissue processor, to be used in accordance with the method of claim 1 .

11 . A block as claimed in claim 10 , configured to conform to a surface of a bath of the tissue processor.

12 . A block as claimed in claim 10 , substantially rectangular in shape with a length in the order of 250 mm, a width in the order of 135 mm and a depth in the order of 30 mm.

13 . A block as claimed in claim 10 , including a score line to allow the block to be readily broken into sections of smaller predetermined volume.

14 . A block as claimed in claim 10 , formed of wax.

15 . A heater element of a tissue processor, the element being in the form of a spike adapted to be positioned in a bath of the processor, the spike being arranged to carry material mounted thereon and to apply heat to the material in order to facilitate melting of the material.

16 . A method of processing tissue samples comprising: providing infiltrating material having a form factor to an automated tissue processor wherein the form factor provides sufficient infiltrating material to enable a tissue processing protocol to run unsupervised.

17 . A method as claimed in claim 16 wherein the form factor corresponds to at least one solid unit having a predetermined volume.

18 . A method as claimed in claim 16 wherein the form factor corresponds to a plurality of solid units having a total predetermined volume.

19 . A method as claimed in claim 16 wherein the infiltrating material comprises one or more of: paraffin wax, resin, gel ester, polyester, microcrystalline cellulose or bees wax.

20 . A method of tissue processing comprising the steps of: heating a volume of infiltrating material to a temperature above the melting point of the infiltrating material within a tissue processor chamber; maintaining a displacement of the infiltrating material such that the infiltrating material is in close proximity to at least one heater operatively associated with the tissue processor chamber.

21 . A method as claimed in claim 20 wherein the infiltrating material comprises a form factor, which provides sufficient infiltrating material to enable a tissue processing protocol to run unsupervised.

22 . A method as claimed in claim 20 wherein the form factor comprises a unitary volume of infiltrating material.

23 . A method as claimed in claim 20 wherein the form factor comprises a plurality of unitary volumes of infiltrating material.

24 . A method as claimed in claim 20 wherein the tissue processor chamber comprises one of: a wax bath; a retort.

25 . A heater element arrangement of a tissue processor for heating infiltrating material comprising: an elongated heating element adapted to extend into a tissue processor chamber wherein the elongated heating element is further adapted to protrude into a unitary volume of infiltrating material so as to engage the infiltrating material for heating.

26 . A unitary volume of tissue processing infiltrating material suitable for use with a method as claimed in claim 16 .

27 . A unitary volume of tissue processing infiltrating material suitable for use with a heater element arrangement as claimed in claim 25 .

28 . A unitary volume of tissue processing infiltrating material according to any one of claims 26 , wherein the tissue processing infiltrating material further comprises a line of weakness defining a portion of the material.

29 . Apparatus adapted to perform tissue processing; said apparatus comprising: processor means adapted to operate in accordance with a predetermined instruction set, said apparatus, in conjunction with said instruction set, being adapted to perform the method steps as claimed in claim 1 .

30 . A computer program product comprising: a computer useable medium having computer readable program code and computer readable system code embodied on said medium for processing tissue samples within a data processing system, said computer program product comprising: computer readable code within said computer useable medium for performing the method steps of claim 1 .

31 . A method, protocol or process as herein disclosed.

32 . Apparatus or product as herein disclosed.