Tissue specimen holder

A method for imaging excised tissue comprising the steps of:

• providing a container having a surface for placement of said tissue;
• restraining said tissue in said container against said surface to keep said tissue stationary and against said surface;
• and
• imaging said tissue through at least part of said surface against which said tissue is held, wherein said restraining step is carried out with the aid of a clamping member located within said container, said clamping member comprises at least one finger, and said restraining step further comprises the step of biasing said finger against said tissue with a spring to restrain said tissue against said surface.

An imaging system for imaging excised tissues having different respective refractive indices, the imaging system comprising:

• a plurality of trays of different tray types, each tray of each tray type having a surface against which can excised tissue is adapted to be supported for imaging and each tray type having associated therewith a respective medium having a different refractive index from that of the other tray types, the respective medium being adapted to be positioned in an imaging path of the imaging system, the refractive index of a respective medium associated with a respective one of said plurality of trays being selected in accordance with the respective refractive index of the type of excised tissue;
• optics directed towards an excised tissue and establishing the imaging path for imaging the excised tissue through the surface of the tray;
• and
• at least one spring biased finger to retain said excised tissue against the surface of the tray.