Roche, Basel, Switzerland, has launched the Ventana HE 600 system, its latest fully automated hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) tissue staining system.
With a goal of improving consistency and quality in tissue staining, the system delivers fresh reagents on each individual slide without relying on user-supplied alcohol and deionized water. The individual slide staining technology mitigates the risk of specimen cross contamination, helping to reduce patient misdiagnosis.
The system’s elimination of xylene and alcohol and its utilization of ready-to-use reagents reduce technician exposure to harmful chemicals. The system improves workflow by removing the need to mix reagents manually and track product expiration dates.
Offering more than 400 individual staining protocols, the system is fully customizable, allowing for laboratory and pathologists’ preferences and tissue variables. In a recent global test, more than 4,000 slides from laboratories in 12 countries were stained on the Ventana HE 600 system and reviewed by 67 pathologists. Evaluation of the criteria, including nuclear detail and stain quality and intensity, resulted in a score of 3.7 on a scale of 4.0.
Roland Diggelmann, Roche Diagnostics.
“Approximately 80% of a pathologist’s diagnostic report comes from the H&E stain,” says Roland Diggelmann, chief operating officer of the Roche Diagnostics Division. “The Ventana HE 600 system will help change the standard of care for laboratories, pathologists and, most importantly, cancer patients, who rely heavily on the H&E test. The system reflects Roche’s commitment to delivering innovation that meets the labs’ needs of today and tomorrow through meaningful advancements in staining quality, patient and laboratory safety, and workflow.”
The system is available worldwide with the exception of Latin America, where it will become available in early 2016.
For more information, visit Roche.
