week 5- histopathology and cytopathology Flashcards
what is histopathology
study of changes in tissue associated with disease
what is cytopathology
study of changes in cells associated with disease
What is the difference between histology and histopathology?
Histology is the study of tissues in general.
Histopathology is the study of tissues associated with disease.
What is the difference between cytology and cytopathology?
Cytology is the study of cells in general.
Cytopathology is the study of cells associated with disease.
what is histopathology and cytopatholgy used for
screening
diagnosis
treatment
determining prognosis
what is screening used for
- highlight abnormalities in asymptomatic patients
- benefits must outweigh harm
- bowel/ breast cancer
- cervical screening
what does diagnosis used for
- look for abnormal cells
- signs of inflammation
- used alongside medical history and other methods
SLIDE 8-11
What is histopathology in brief?
- the tissue sample is enclosed within paraffin wax
- the paraffin wax block is cut into thin sections
- Section placed on microscope slide
- Slide is stained with dyes and then examined
- results sent to requesting clinician to follow up
what is histology process
- receipt/ booking in
- fixation
- dissection
- processing
- embedding
- microtomy
- staining
- immunohistochemistry
what is receipt/ booking in
specimen is taken from GP surgery, outpatient clinic or during surgery
it is labelled with atleast 3 forms of ID and pot and request form should match
what is fixation
often samples are stored and sent in formaldehyde
pre-filled pots and buckets are provided to drop sample in
samples may be frozen (study proteins)
- immunofluorescence
- biopsies for enzyme studies
what is formaldehyde - related to fixation
it preserves tissue, prevents autolysis, kills bacteria and viruses, forms cross-links with proteins thus preserving them
it is the most common fixative
What are artefacts - related to fixation
Artefacts are structures in a histological section that has come from outside sources.
Can result from ice crystals, insufficient / over fixation.
what is dissection
-transfer pieces of tissue into cassettes
- technique depends on sample size:
small- no dissection needed
intermediate/large - representative piece taken
what is processing
- dehydrate tissue and infiltrate with molten paraffin wax
-often automated- up to 600 cassettes per run (rapid processing= same-day diagnosis) - reagents: alcohol, xylene and paraffin
what is embedding
- transfer tissue to wax block
- paraffin embedding machine
- samples picked ip from plastic cassette and soaked in liquid paraffin, then arranged in the middle of the mould
What is sample orientation - related to embedding?
The way you cut the paraffin wax with the tissue inside
what is microtomy
- thin section of tissue from the wax block is sliced and mounted onto microscope slide
- use a microtome
- 3-4 microns (0.003-0.004 mm)
what is staining
- haematoxylin and eosin
- depth of colour related to time spent in dyes as well as structures
what is haemotoxylin
basic (alkali) dye which stains acidic structures such as DNA purple
what is eosin
acidic dye and stains basic structures pink
what is immunohistochemistry (ICH)
determines the location of an antigen in tissue using antigen
secondary antibody linked to enzyme
What things are important about the process of fixation in immunohistochemistry - IHC
- The fixation must be optimised
- If the sample is fixated too little or too much, it can lose signal
what is immunofluorescence (IF) - direct
- rapid single- step staining
- no signal amplification
- antibodies can be from the same host, so long as have different fluorophore