Abstract
Since a pathological diagnosis is directly linked to the treatment of patients, pathological technologists should prepare high-quality specimens for precise diagnosis. Hematoxylin–eosin (HE) staining is one of the most important tools for the pathological diagnosis. However, it is difficult to obtain consistent results because of differences in the staining procedure carried out among laboratories. For accurate pathological diagnosis, HE-stained specimens of the highest quality should be prepared. Therefore, the standardization of the HE staining color that is consistent among all laboratories is indispensable for preparing high-quality specimens. As the first step for standardization, we asked pathological technologists and pathologists working at pathological divisions of hospitals in the Chubu district, Japan, to evaluate the color of the prepared specimens sent by e-mail as images in attached files, which were also used in the control survey carried out in 2017–2018 by the Aichi Association of Medical Technologists. We requested them to select the specimen they most favored among the HE-stained specimens with a wide spectrum of colors. In conclusion, the response summary showed that the pathologists generally favored a deeper eosinophilic tint than the pathological technologists and that there was diversity in preferences among the pathological technologists even in the same laboratory. A range of preferences among medical professionals was also revealed. This questionnaire survey could be helpful to standardize the HE staining procedure.
