Special Stains

Within histopathology a wide range of staining techniques are used in order to differentiate between different tissue types as well as various bacteria and elements such as iron or copper. An area of staining within pathology known as special stains is performed by biomedical scientists and uses various complex techniques that target different tissue pathology in order to better aid the consultant’s diagnosis of a pathological illness.

To better understand what we do within special stains here are some examples of a Masson's trichrome stain, this staining technique stains all red blood cells (red) and fibrosis (green/ blue) 

the example below shows a toluidine blue staining technique used to stain H. pylori which is a bacteria that invades and causes pathological illness