Method and Microtome for Producing Thin Sections with a Section Profile Recording Mode

• US 20160245728A1
• Filed: 08/18/2014
• Published: 08/25/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Leica Biosystems Nussloch GmbH (Danaher Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Leica Biosystems Nussloch GmbH (Danaher Corporation)
• Inventors: WITTMAN, Markus, WALTER, Roland, BERBERICH, Markus
• Granted Patent: US 10,345,198 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 1/06 providing a thin slice, e.g. microtome
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 1/286 involving mechanical work, e.g. chopping, disintegrating, compacting, homogenising microtomes G01N1/06; pulverising in general B02C; mixing in general B01F
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2001/065 Drive details
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2001/066 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2001/2873 Cutting or cleaving

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method of producing thin sections by means of a microtome, wherein a hand wheel (32) is manually driven for producing a first thin section, and wherein the rotational movement of the hand wheel (32) is detected by means of an encoder (38), and a profile of the rotational movement is determined. The determined profile is stored and selected for production of at least a second thin section. A motor (24) is driven for generating a cutting movement between a cutting unit (16) and a sample holder (12) in accordance with the respective stored profile selected for producing the second thin section. The invention further relates to a microtome (10) by means of which the above method is carried out.

Claims

1. A method of producing thin sections by means of a microtome, wherein a hand wheel (32) is manually driven for producing a first thin section, and

wherein the rotational movement of the hand wheel (32) during production of the first thin section is detected by means of an encoder (38), and a profile of the rotational movement is determined,

wherein the determined profile is stored in a storage element (42),

wherein a plurality of profiles are determined by means of the encoder (38), said profiles being stored in the storage element (42),

wherein at least one characteristic feature is stored, unambiguously assigned to each profile,

wherein one of the prior stored profiles is selected for producing at least a second thin section,

and wherein a motor (24) for generating a cutting movement between a cutting unit (16) and a sample holder (12) is driven in accordance with the respective stored profile selected, for producing the second thin section.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the motor (24) is driven in real-time in accordance with the profile detected by the encoder (38) for producing the first thin section.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the profile includes a position profile, a speed profile, an acceleration profile, a lower limit of a cutting window and/or an upper limit of a cutting window.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the profile is recorded during production of the first thin section of a sample, and in that said stored profile is subsequently used for production of all further thin sections of the respective sample.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the profiles are stored as a database in the storage element (42).

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein a type of the sample to be microtomed and/or a person operating the microtome (10) is stored as the characteristic feature.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the characteristic feature of a sample is determined for a sample to be microtomed, the determined characteristic feature is compared with the stored characteristic features, and one of the stored profiles is selected in dependence of the result of the comparison, and the motor is driven in accordance with the selected profile when microtoming said sample.

8. The method according claim 7, wherein selection of the profile is automatically accomplished.

9. The method according to claim 6, wherein the characteristic feature is determined via a barcode of the sample.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein selection of one of the stored profiles for producing a thin section is manually accomplished.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein, in a recording mode, a profile detected during rotation of the hand wheel (32) is stored, and wherein in an automatic mode, the motor (24) is driven in accordance with a prior stored, selected profile.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein during production of the at least second thin section, the motor (24) is driven independently of the rotation of the hand wheel.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein, during a revolution of the hand wheel (32), the encoder (38) outputs positional data including information on the respective position of the hand wheel (32), and wherein the profile of the cutting movement is detected in accordance with said positional data.

14. A microtome for producing thin sections, comprising:

a sample holder (12) for receiving a sample to be microtomed,

a cutting unit (16) for cutting the sample,

a motor (24) for generating a relative movement between the sample holder (12) and the cutting unit (16) for cutting the sample,

a manually operable hand wheel (32),

an encoder (38) for detecting a rotational movement of the hand wheel (32), and

a control unit (40) for driving the motor (24),

characterized in that, in a recording mode, the control unit (40), using the encoder (38), determines a plurality of profiles of rotational movements (32) performed for cutting thin sections,

the control unit (40) stores the profiles in a storage element (42),

the control unit (40) stores for each profile at least one characteristic feature unambiguously assigned thereto, and

wherein the control unit (40), when producing at least one further thin section, drives the motor (24) in accordance with a prior stored, selected profile.