histopathology and cytopathology Flashcards
3 roles of histopathologist
diagnosis, assess how far cancers have spread (stage), monitor disease and treatment
histopathologist vs cytopathologist
interest in tissues vs interest in cells
histopathologist samples
biopsies, resection specimens, frozen sections, post-mortems
cytopathologist samples
smears, fine needle aspirates
histopathology: biopsy questions
normal?, inflamed? -> if so, cause?, cancer? -> if so, what type?
histopathology: resection specimens - what are they and questions
larger sample; are margins inflamed? -> otherwise surgical anastamoses won’t work, how far has cancer spread?, is it all out?
histopathology: frozen section - what is it and questions
done when patient still in theatre so must be very quick e.g. removing cancer and frozen section is margin; is it cancer?, is it all out?, something else going on?
histopathology: 2 types of post-mortem
hospital (in hospital) vs Coroner’s (suspicious)
how are sections obtained
receive patient- and type of tissue-labelled pot containing biopsy -> fix in formalin (easier to examine as more solid) -> embedded in paraffin wax -> cut sections (then observe under microscope)
what 3 things can happen to sections
stain (e.g. gram, ZN), immunohistochemistry (identify specific antigens using antibodies), carry out molecular tests
when would cytopathology be used
easier to take individual cells than parts of tissue e.g. swollen lymph nodes near thyroid (to test whether reactive or malignant)
histopathology result to clinician: frozen section, biospies, resection specimens
frozen section: 30 minutes, biospies: 2-3 days, resection specimens: 5-7 days
what is a HIV AIDS defining disease
Kaposi’s sarcoma (vascular tumour to skin or viscera) infiltrating collagen bundles
