Proceedings of the thirteenth annual meeting of the alabama electron microscopy society, held in Huntsville, Alabama, February 17 and 18, 1994

✍ Scribed by J. A. Tucker; P. Ingram; J. D. Shelburne

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1994
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 158 KB
• Volume: 28
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1059-910X
• DOI: 10.1002/jemt.1070280513

✦ Synopsis

Electron probe microanalysis of svnovial tissue. Electron probe microanalysis is a powerful tool for examining the elemental composition of material. In pathology, this method has been employed for a limited number of clinical applications. A previously unexplored use of this technique yielded diagnostic information on a surgical pathology case. The patient was a 65 year old woman who had undergone a right total elbow replacement four years previously for chronic pain. The clinical diagnosis was degenerative arthritis. Over the following years, she developed slowly progressive pain and limited range of motion in her left shoulder. Again, the diagnosis was degenerative arthritis, and she underwent a left total shoulder replacement. Histologic examination of the synovium revealed focal aggregates of crystalline material. The crystals were positively birefringent under compensated polarized light, and calcium pyrophosphate deposition was considered. To obtain definitive data, a serial section of paraffin embedded tissue was mounted on a carbon stub and examined in a scanning electron microscope equipped with an energy dispersive x-ray microanalyzer. The foci of crystals were easily identified morphologically, and electron probe microanalysis of these crystals revealed prominent peaks for calcium and phosphorus. Based on this information, the surgical pathology diagnosis was chronic pseudogout.