Pathology Flashcards

1
Q

What are the most common lab errors?

a) analytical
b) pre-analytical error
c) post-analytical error

A

b) pre-analytical error

Mislabelling where the specimen and requisition don’t have the same label

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2
Q

Once a specimen arrives to the lab, what is the first step the pathologist takes?

A

Weight and measure its dimensions

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3
Q

Why do we ink margins?

A
  • For orientation and mapping (proximal to distal)
  • You ink all portions that where separated from adjacent tissue, where separation from that plane required a physical act
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4
Q

Positivity of a margin suggests what?

A

Suggests non-resection, and that local control of the tumour is still needed

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5
Q

Do you paint/ink skin?

A

No, because it is in contact with air and was not in contact with adjacent tissue.

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6
Q

What is a positive margin?

A

=Tumour is touching ink

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7
Q

Very low grade tumours, can do a capsular exicision, true or false?

A

True

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8
Q

High grade Sarcoma, can do a capsular exicision, true or false?

A

False,

Do a wide-local excision

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9
Q

What is the goal of processing?

A

To convert a gross specimen into thin cassettes/slides that can examine under a microscope

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10
Q

How thin does a specimen need to be cut into before it can be examined under a microscope?

A

1 to 2 cells thick.

Need a single optical plane

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11
Q

How big is a cell?

A

5 microns

5/1000th of a mm

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12
Q

What instrument is used to cut a specimen into smaller slices?

A

Microtome

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13
Q

Why can’t you cut/linearize a specimen directly with a microtome?

A

It has water in it, that causes surface tension. The tissue cannot be cut or linearized properly.

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14
Q

What are 2 ways to solidify water?

A
  • Freeze water

- Remove water and replace it with another solid

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15
Q

Tissue processing essentially replaces water with what?

A

Parrafin wax

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16
Q

Once a tissue is parrafin wax solidified, is it fixed yet?

A

No

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17
Q

What does a fixative do in fixation?

A

Tissue is killed

Methylated and cross-linked the proteins (denatured them)

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18
Q

What are examples of fixative?

A

Formalin
D5
Alcohol

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19
Q

When can you NOT fix a tissue?

A

When a viable tissue is required for analysis

Ex tissue culture, bacterial culture, gram stain

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20
Q

Does fixation kill DNA?

A

No

only denatures protein

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21
Q

What is tissue fixation?

A

Rendering tissue SOLID and invulnerable to autolysis

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22
Q

What is tissue processing?

A

Rendering tissue solid

solidifying water with paraffin wax, or frozen section

23
Q

Why don’t we do frozen section on every specimen?

A

Tissue distorted and contour/shape is lost.

24
Q

What does “defer to permanent” mean?

A

Distortion artifact of frozen section is too severe and is interfering with safe/accurate diagnosis.

25
Q

Parrafin wax, 2 important properties?

A

Completely viscous at high temperature

Complete solid at cool temperatures

26
Q

One full gear turn of the microtome gives what thickness of cut?

A

5 microns

27
Q

H&E stain is essentially what?

A

A fabric dye

28
Q

Why use H&E stain? i.e. what is histochemistry?

A

To differentially highlight different elements in a tissue by exploiting their different chemical properties
(i.e. nucleic acids vs protein)

29
Q

What molecule a radically different charge properties than any other?

A

DNA

phosphodiester back bone (tons of negative charge)

30
Q

Cationic dye is what colour? Anionic

A

Cationic - Blue (DNA)

Anionic - Red (cytoplasm)

31
Q

What are 4 kinds of special stains?

A
  • Histochemistry
  • Immunohistochemistry
  • In situ hybridization
  • Immunofluoresence
32
Q

Name a tumor where cytogenics of the tumour is diagnostic?

A

Lymphoma (Burkitt’s)

8q14
mic oncogene translocated under immunoglobulin promoter

33
Q

POS may ask about specific translocations associated with certain tumours, true or false?

A

True

34
Q

Can a karyotype be done on fixed tissue?

A

Depends on the kind of fixation

35
Q

Why did we start using Karyotypes in medicine? (cytogenics)

A

The application of cytogenics was first applied in obstretics, for diagnosis of Trisomy disorders.

36
Q

What stage of cell cycle are cells trapped into for cytogenic/karyotype analysis?

A

Trap them in metaphase

37
Q

Giemsa uses what chemical property to differentiate between structure?

A

Redox status

38
Q

Giemsa is what kind of stain?

A

A silver-impregnated stain

39
Q

What is a tissue/tumor of epithelial origin?

A

Carcinoma

40
Q

What is a tissue/tumor of mesenchymal origin?

A

Sarcoma

41
Q

What is a tissue that is CD45+ve?

S100 +ve?

A

Lymphoma

42
Q

Tissue that is S100 +ve?

A

Melanoma

43
Q

What tumor has almost all cells in S-phase (i.e. is growing so quickly)? What is the problem with that?

A

Burkitt’s lymphoma

In S-phase means Tremendous apoptosis –> Tumor lysis

44
Q

What is a sarcoma of skeletal muscle origin called?

A

Rhabdomyosarcoma

45
Q

What is a vascular sarcoma?

A

Angiosarcoma

46
Q

List 4 skeletal muscle markers (Histogenesis)

A

MMMD

  • Myogensis
  • Myoglobin
  • MyoD1
  • Desmin
47
Q

List 2 smooth muscle markers

A
  • Actin

- Smooth Muscle actin

48
Q

List 2 neural tissue markers

A
  • S100

- PgP9.5

49
Q

List 4 Vascular markers

A
  • CD31
  • Cd34
  • Factor VIII
  • D240 (lymphatics)
50
Q

What are 6 ancillary studies one can use?

A
  • Electron microscopy
  • FISH
  • Conventional Cytogenetics
  • Flow cytometry
  • Molecular studies
  • Microbiology cultures
51
Q

What is the fixative for electron microscopy?

A

Glutaraldehyde

52
Q

What stain do you use/see on a frozen section?

A

H&E

53
Q

What is “Tissue Fix”?

A

Formaldehyde 2-5%

A fixative

54
Q

Histology vs Cytology?

A

Histology - see the tissue/cell in its 3D architecture

Cytology - individual aggregated disorganized cells