Tissue-sectioning automation can be a resourceful tool in processing anatomical pathology specimens. The advantages of an automated system compared with traditional manual sectioning are the invariable thickness, uniform orientation and fewer tissue-sectioning artefacts. This short report presents the design of an automated tissue-sectioning device and compares the sectioned specimens with normal manual tissue sectioning performed by an experienced histology technician. The automated system was easy to use, safe and the sectioned material showed acceptable quality with well-preserved morphology and tissue antigenicity. It is expected that the turnaround time will be improved in the near future.

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Delivery of activated pro-angiogenic monocytes to an ischemic skin flap tended to improve histologic evidence of vascularity without corresponding microscopic or gross evidence of improved flap survival. These results are encouraging regarding the use of monocytes as a potential method of improving vascularization of ischemic tissue.

Neuroendocrine tumors of the gastrointestinal tract are rare entities. Functioning neuroendocrine tumors tend to present early because of hormone-induced clinical symptoms, but detection of the primary lesion may be difficult owing to their small size. Neuroendocrine tumors are typically hypervascular and show enhancement after contrast administration on computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Large nonfunctioning tumors may be found in asymptomatic patients. In such cases, the synchronous presence of hypervascular hepatic metastases should be explored. This pictorial review illustrates imaging features of functioning and nonfunctioning neuroendocrine tumors arising in the gastrointestinal tract and the pancreas. Modalities included are CT, MRI, ultrasonography, and nuclear medicine. Characteristic histological specimens of these lesions are presented.