Histopathology Flashcards
What does a histopathologist look at?
Tissues.
What can a histopathologist comment on in general?
The overall architecture of the tissue sample.
What tissue samples do histopathologists look at?
Biopsies
Resection specimens
Frozen sections
Post-mortems.
What technique can be done during surgery to aid surgeons?
Frozen sections.
How long do frozen sections take?
30 minutes.
How long do biopsies take?
2-3 days.
How long do resection specimens take?
5-7 days.
What are biopsies?
Biopsies are small sections of tissues that are removed from the patient and used to aid diagnoses.
How are biopsies taken?
Tissues are placed in a formalin solution which preserves the tissues by cross-linking proteins. They are then embedded in paraffin wax to allow very thin sections to be cut by an instrument known as a microtome. These are mounted on a glass microscope slide for further preparation prior to analysis.
Chemical stains can also be used to aid diagnosis in a biopsy. What does the H&E (Haematoxylin and Eosin) stain identify?
Nuclei and cytoplasmic granules of leukocytes within tissues.
What stain can be used to stain acid-fast bacteria?
What major bacteria is stained by this?
The Ziehl-Neelsen stain.
The Mycobacteria (TB).
What should be present on biopsies to avoid confusion/misdiagnosis?
The hospital number of the patient.
What are resection specimens?
Surgical resection specimens are obtained by the therapeutic surgical removal of an entire diseased area or organ (and occasionally multiple organs).
What can resection specimens allow doctors to do?
Stage the disease as well as confirm a diagnosis as they are generally seen as definitive proof.
How can resection specimens be used by biobanks?
They can be used to inform genomic studies of the disease process.
