Tissue-Tek AutoTEC® a120

Tissue-Tek AutoTEC^®  a120 Automated Embedder

The second-generation Tissue-Tek AutoTEC^®  a120 remains the industry’s first and only fully automated embedding system that eliminates the tedious and labor-intensive need to manually orient and embed tissue specimens and form tissue or cell paraffin blocks. The AutoTEC technology, combined with the Tissue-Tek^® Paraform^® Sectionable Cassette System ensure that the orientation of specimens, determined by pathologists and pathologist assistants, is locked from grossing to microtomy for all routine tissue types, thereby eliminating the risk of orientation mistakes and tissue loss for increasing patient safety.

New enhanced features

The new enhanced features include the incorporation of a cassette bar code reader for future LIS connectivity and traceability of specimen blocks, and the new SMARTair^™ Technology to remove excess paraffin. A larger 15-inch touchscreen monitor and the enhanced operating system both deliver improved user convenience. Redesign of the input and output doors, the paraffin reservoir and access to the base molds provides improved ergonomics while requiring minimal user maintenance and further increasing up-time. With its smaller footprint, the AutoTEC a120 can be installed in small laboratories, and Sakura’s Tissue-Tek^®iSupport^™ program provides remote diagnostics and peace of mind.

Increased productivity with predictable performance in TAT and block quality

The AutoTEC a120 offers a high throughput of up to 120 cassettes/hour and enables laboratories to reallocate valuable personnel now manually working at embedding stations, and to conveniently level the daily workload in a lean continuous workflow. When used in conjunction with either the Tissue-Tek Xpress^®  x120 or x50 Rapid Tissue Processors, these SMART Automation Systems provide high quality and safe tissue processing, consistent clean blocks, improved turnaround time and all-important same-day diagnosis of cancer specimens.