Open Access′Venetian blinds′ artifact in dermatohistopathology
Author(s) -
Rajiv Joshi
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
indian dermatology online journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2249-5673
pISSN - 2229-5178
DOI - 10.4103/2229-5178.93497
Subject(s) - artifact (error) , medicine , microtome , magnification , stromal cell , pathology , biomedical engineering , computer science , computer vision
The 'Venetian blinds' artifact is an uncommon tissue cutting artifact that leads to the formation of parallel series of strips of tissue separated from one another by narrow clear spaces. It has been attributed to either hardening of the tissue in the paraffin block or defective assembly of the microtome knife. This artifact occurs in both inflammatory and neoplastic conditions in which there are nodular collections of cells and may reflect vibration-induced disintegration of fragile cellular aggregates that lack dermal stromal support. At scanning magnification, it serves to draw the histopathologist's eye to the site of pathology.