Surgical Pathology

Good medical practice requires a tissue diagnosis prior to planning and initiating therapy.

The field of surgical pathology evaluates tissues removed from living patients during surgery or other types of invasive procedures in order to:

• Diagnose a disease and aid in the development of a treatment plan
• Provide information regarding prognosis such as:
  • Status of surgical margins (complete or incomplete removal of disease)
  • Size and extent of disease, including tumor invasion into adjacent structures
  • Tumor grade (well, moderately, or poorly differentiated)
  • Presence of metastasis to regional lymph nodes or distant organs

Surgical Pathologic Evaluation

Surgical Pathologic Evaluation typically includes:

• Physical (gross) Examination of the Tissue with the Naked Eye
  • The specimen is examined physically, measured and described
  • Representative areas are selected to be processed into slides
• Microscopic Examination of Processed Tissue on a Slide

For further information, please select one of the following:

• Submission of tissue to Surgical Pathology
  • Specimen Collection Instructions
    • Specimen Identification
    • Results
    • Amputated Limbs
    • Bone Marrow Aspirations and Biopsies
    • Brain Biopsies
    • Endomyocardial Biopsies
    • Fresh Tissue
    • Hormonal Receptors
    • Intraoperative Consultation/Frozen Section
    • Muscle Biopsies
    • Outside Pathology Material
    • Peripheral Nerve Biopsies
    • Quantitative Metal Analysis
    • Renal Biopsies
    • Routine Specimens
    • Stone Analysis
    • Tissue Culture
  • Tissues Exempt from Submission
  • Specimen Types
    • Specimens for Gross Examination Only
    • Biopsies (Small Samples)
    • Routine Non-cancer Specimens
    • Large Specimens, Including Cancer Resections
• Volume and Statistics
• Report Turnaround Time
• Patient Care Conferences and Tumor Boards with Surgical Pathology Participation
• New Pathology/Laboratory Medicine Test, Product, or Process Requests