Histopathology Flashcards
What are resections?
Taken from tissue removed as part of a surgical procedure and processed for biopsy. Or donated for further study
What is a histopathologist?
deals with tissues, examines sections, what it tells about a condition
What is fine needle aspirates?
get into a lesion and aspirate cells, analysed for smear. assess without surgery.
What are frozen sections?
Examined by pathologists in real time as px is operated on.
cyrostat freezes it, it is cut and mounted. stained.
(need to be fresh tissues and free of preservatives like formalin)
Why may cells burst during preservation?
Under 15 degrees ATPase pump stops functioning and without circulation and hence oxygen there is little ATP to pump out Na+ so water follows and swells cells. so how are transplants possible?
What is a cytopathologist?
Take cells from patient, prepare for examination and delivering expert diagnosis on cell sample
What are Biopsies?
Small tissue sections removed and preserved on a formalin solution.
Then embedded in paraffin wax to allow microtome to cut small layers
How does formalin preserve biopsies?
Crosslinks proteins
What stains can be used for biopsy microscopy?
H&E = nuclei and cytoplasmic granules of leukocytes
Ziehl-Neelsen stain = stains acid fast bacteria red for the diagnosis of TB
What are resections used for?
To look at stage of disease
How long do frozen sections take to get results?
30 mins
How long does it take to get results from Biopsies?
2-3 days
How long does it take to get results from Resections?
5-7 days
What is the downside to using fine needle aspiration?
Cytopathologist is only looking at cells and so cannot comment on architecture of tissue
What can be detected in a Kaposi’s sarcoma skin biopsy?
Spindly looking cells can be seen to penetrate collagen fibres
