Histology laboratories stand to benefit from the availability of a fully automated tissue embedder that was designed to eliminate the labor intensive necessity of manually orienting and embedding tissue specimens in paraffin blocks.

Sakura Finetek Europe B.V. (Alphen aan den Rijn, The Netherlands) introduced the Tissue-Tek AutoTEC a120 Automated Embedder at the September 5, 2015, European Congress of Pathology held in Belgrade (Serbia).

The AutoTEC technology combined with the Paraform Sectionable Cassette System comprises a fully automated instrument—offering high-throughput of up to 120 cassettes per hour—that locks the orientation of specimens, thereby increasing patient safety by eliminating the risk of orientation mistakes and tissue loss.

The second generation AutoTEC a120 features a cassette barcode reader for LIS (laboratory information system) connectivity and traceability of specimen blocks, and SMARTair technology that optimizes block quality. An enhanced 15-inch touch screen monitor and intuitive operating system maximize user convenience. In addition, the input and output doors, the paraffin reservoir, and access to the base molds have been redesigned to provide improved ergonomics while requiring minimal user maintenance.

“Building upon seven years of field experience with the first-generation AutoTEC, from which tens of millions of patients worldwide received diagnosis based on AutoTEC-produced blocks, the AutoTEC a120 is a product of customer feedback, Japanese engineering ingenuity, and quality manufacturing,” said Chris Koeman, president of Sakura Finetek Europe B.V.

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