Artifacts: A menace in histopathology

Introduction: The word ‘artifact’ is derived from the latin words, ‘Ars’ (art) & ‘factum’(made). The study was undertaken to know the prevalence and patterns of artifacts. Materials & methods: This is a cross-sectional observational study. 250 consecutive hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) stained sections were retrieved from the archives and analyzed for artifacts under light microscope. Results: Among 250 slides, 227(90.8%) showed the presence of artifacts. The folding artifact was the most prevalent constituting 98(43.17%) and excess mountant 6(2.64%) was least common. Conclusion: Folding artifacts were the most prevalent pattern in this study. Proper technical measures need to be employed in order to prevent/minimize the occurrence of artifacts in a skillful manner, as they may pose diagnostic difficulties.