Tuesday, November 24, 2015

The Mercado Brain Cutting Device launched at the University of Colorado

Thanks to a hand-made gift from University of Alabama neuropathology fellow Juan Mercado, MD, our residents on autopsy rotation this month had the opportunity yesterday to inaugurate the use of The Mercado Brain Cutting Device (MBCD). Made from tools easily found at any hardware store, the device allows prosectors to make reliably even 1-cm thick coronal brain slices for optimal demonstration of gross anatomy and pathology. University of Colorado pathology residents Abby Richmond, MD (PGY-III) and Sammie Roberts, MD (PGY-I) used the device to great advantage as demonstrated by the exquisitely presented brain slices laid out for inspection.

Dr. Sammie Roberts with the MBCD 
Dr. Abby Richmond makes the first cut

Sections are even and uniform in thickness

The finished product

Drs. Moore, Richmond, and Roberts (left to right) examining the coronal sections

Much appreciation to Dr. Mercado for gifting this device, which he describes as a "limited edition (1 or 1)", to our department. We will undoubtedly have more meticulous brain cutting sessions henceforth thanks to Dr. Mercado's efforts.

5 comments:

HReddy said...

This is a nice gift, but again, we have been using guides like this for YEARS in Canada, and I custom made my own that I have been using in brain cutting session at Beth Israel since 2009...This is not a brand new innovation
-Hasini Reddy

Isabel Almira said...

Nice, however all UVA Neuropath fellows train with a similar (if not better ;-) ) tool: two 1 cm square bars. We also receive an engraved pair of bars during our graduation ceremony.
So...sorry but the method is neither new or unknown to our Neuropath comunity :-).

Isabel Almira

Former Neuropathology fellow said...

Elias Perenres M.D. Introduced guides like this at the University of Virginia in 1987.

M Graeber, Sydney said...

I agree. This is not new.

Unknown said...

Dr Almirante, yes we also use 1 cm square bars. They are great! Been using in canada for about 30 years. Maybe it took a man to tell another man to put it on his blog…

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