pathserv
Consultation
A Pathologist is a Medical Doctor - M.D. who specializes in : The diagnosis of diseases by examining tissue biopsies, cytologies, laboratory tests, and acts as a consult to your physician.
After a diagnosis is made, it is up to your medical doctor or surgeon to treat your disease. Pathologists consult with Physicians in treatment decisions, but rarely even see the patient unless they are requested to perform special procedures such as bone marrow, or fine needle aspirations, (FNA).
It can be very difficult to decide what diseases you have.
Since pathologists usually only receive tiny pieces of tissue or sometimes only a few cells to diagnose what a patient has, it can be very difficult to determine what diseases you may have.
PAthology Department & LAboratory
Selecting the diseased parts
In addition, while we look at representative sections of "ALL" of the tissue we are given, only a few thin slices are made into slides. If there is a disease process or infectious organism a fraction of a millimeter away from our slice, it may not be seen.
Fortunately, most diseases and tumors affect areas of tissue large enough that they are readily diagnosed.
Representative Section
Once the Pathologist has cut a representative section, it is processed in a machine and stained with red and blue stains. In this way, the transparent cells can be seen and their characteristics examined.
If we suspect a bacteria or infection is present, we can stain the section with special stains.
New Technology
New technology also allows us to use special antibodies to identify the kinds of cells present and can greatly help in the diagnosis.
Autopsy
An autopsy is a special test on the entire body after death to find out what disease or diseases were present that caused the patients death.
Explanations
We hope the above explanations and descriptions are helpful to better understand the pathology process that is undertaken in our pathology lab.
Second Opinion
Do you have questions?
Do you need a 2nd Opinion? Concerned you have have been misdiagnosed or have questions about your Pathology Report?
Pathology Services offers second opinions along with PCF Forms upon agreement.
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