Pre-Analytical Variables in Digestive Cancer Pathology: A Systematic Assessment of Morphological Preservation in Tumoral and Normal Tissues

<b>Background/Objectives</b>: This research covers both tumoral and non-tumoral (adjacent normal) tissues. Non-tumoral tissue samples were obtained from surgical resection margins located at least 5 cm from the tumor edge, with histological confirmation of the absence of tumor involvement. <b>Methods</b>: These samples, varying from 0 weeks to 1 week, were systematically evaluated. The assessment encompassed critical histological aspects such as tissue architecture, nuclear morphology, cytoplasmic features, and membrane characteristics. A scoring system comprising three categories (good, fair, and bad) was employed to gauge the extent of morphological alterations observed in tissue specimens. Statistical analyses were conducted using the "IBM SPSS Statistics 26.0" software. <b>Results</b>: Our findings unveiled a statistically significant association between tissue type and morphological degradations, highlighting the impact of prolonged cold ischemia time and fixation time on cellular swelling, cellular integrity loss, and tissue architecture disruption. The correlation between normal and tumor tissue was statistically significant for pre-analytical parameters evaluated with a strong influence on tumor tissue in cold ischemia time with a <i>p</i> = 0.046, <i>p</i> = 0.020, <i>p</i> = 0.029. For fixation times, the impact was significant for most of the morphological parameters, <i>p</i> = 0.021, <i>p</i> = 0.005, <i>p</i> = 0.023. <b>Conclusions</b>: These observations underscore the critical importance of minimizing cold ischemia time and refining fixation protocols to uphold tissue morphology, protein and molecular integrity. Such endeavors are pivotal in ensuring accurate histopathological evaluation and facilitating precise molecular analyses in the context of digestive cancer research.