histopathology+ cytopathology Flashcards
histopathologist vs cytopathologist
histo (tissue) analyse biopsies (bits of small tissues), resection specimens (organs), frozen sections and post-mortems.
cyto (cells) analyse smears or fine needle aspirates (biopsy eg of thyroid difficult, so aspiration of the cells used)
analysing biopsies
if not normal, is it inflamed (what is cause): if not is it cancer (what type eg lymphoma)
analysing resection specimens+ time comparison
how far has cancer spread eg in colon: if there is cancer, are the margins clear ie was cancer only in the colon ie has surgeon removed alll the tumour- takes long (a week vs 2 days for biopsy)
analysing frozen section
requires rapid diagnosis as patient still in theatre- surgeon sends margin of tumour to see whether all cancer cleared: also whether there’s another type of cancer present
how are sections obtained
they are fixed in FORMALIN, and embedded using PARAFFINE wax, then look under slide
what they do with sections
stains eg gram stain- also do immunohistochemistry ie identifying antigens using antibodies
kaposi’s sarcoma
diagnosed using a rash on skin- indicates HIV/AIDS: is a tumour of endothelial cells: diagnosed using antibodies
analysing enlarged lymph nodes
take a fine needle aspiration of the enlarged node- if no pathology, diagnosis is a REACTIVE LYMPHADENOPATHY