Development of an Automated Sectioning Device for Paraffin-Embedded Specimens in Pathological Diagnosis

In pathological diagnosis, such as for cancer, tissue specimens are embedded in paraffin, thinly sectioned, mounted on glass slides, and stained for microscopic examination. The sectioning process is essentially a form of precision micro-cutting, and the resulting tissue sections can be considered as ultra-thin chips with thicknesses of only a few micrometers. These fragile sections must be carefully stretched and attached to slides, a process that currently relies heavily on manual handling due to their delicate nature. This manual work places a considerable burden on technicians. In this study, we have developed an automated sectioning device that performs thin sectioning, stretching, and mounting of paraffin-embedded tissue specimens.