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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2010 Dec 22.
Published in final edited form as: Am J Surg Pathol. 2009 Nov;33(11):1583–1589. doi: 10.1097/PAS.0b013e3181b274e7

Figure 3. Comparison of maximum metastasis size detected by a two-level wide spaced and a multilevel narrow spaced sectioning protocol.

Figure 3

The wide spaced (B-32) protocol examines only two sections at approximately 0.5 mm and 1.0 mm deeper into the paraffin block. The narrow spaced (comprehensive) protocol examines sections every 0.18 mm through the block producing a median of 11 sections per block. Occult metastases were identified in nine additional blocks by the comprehensive protocol (one micrometastasis (25B); 8 isolated tumor cell clusters). Three micrometastases were misclassified as isolated tumor cell clusters by the B-32 protocol (9C, 9D, 47B1).