Pathomorphology is a specialization, the tasks of which include the examination of tissues and organs, as well as the morphological changes taking place in them resulting from the course and development of the disease. Thus, pathomorphology provides important information about the disease process. For this reason, it is an essential element in the diagnosis of many diseases, and turns out to be extremely useful in the diagnosis of neoplastic diseases. What is pathomorphological examination? What does a pathologist do?
What is pathomorphological examination?
Pathomorphology is a science that studies the changes that occur in tissues and organs caused by an developing disease. It is part of the broader science of disease known as pathology (from Greek: pathos – disease, logos – science). It is an indispensable part of the diagnosis of many diseases, especially cancer. In many cases, diagnosis pathomorphological is considered essential in the process of defining a medical condition.
Pathomorphological examination it consists in taking a piece of tissue or an internal organ (it can be done during surgery) from the patient and then examining it using a light microscope. Using it, the doctor patomorfolog makes a diagnosis.
Based on the changes in the tissue, a specialist is able to recognize the type and type of tumor they are dealing with. The use of receptors and antigens, as well as specially prepared reagents for this research, are helpful in this process. Recognition of all these details is important in the later treatment process – it is now more and more individualized, depending on the patient’s condition and needs. As a result, the patient is quickly covered with specialized treatment by an oncologist.
Diagnosis pathomorphological uses several different research techniques. These include: biopsy, microscopy, telemedicine, cytochemistry, histochemistry, and molecular biology. Biopsy it consists in collecting fragments of tissue, which is then the object of observation and examination. Several types can be distinguished biopsy. Oligobiopsy consists in collecting the material with special forceps that can be performed during bronchoscopy, colonoscopy or gastroscopy. Core needle biopsy in turn, it is used in the diagnosis of certain kidney and liver diseases, as well as cancers affecting the breast or prostate. In the case of the latter gland, it is performed through the anus. It is based on the histopathological assessment of a piece of tissue. This is known as a frozen test as the material is frozen which allows it to be cut into smaller pieces. As a result, changes can be recognized within thirty minutes. This is very useful when it has not been possible to determine if the tumor is in nature before proceeding with the operation mean, Czy mild.
A special type of core needle biopsy is mammotomy biopsy. It allows you to obtain material for examination using a microscope, but what’s more, you can simultaneously remove a tumor with only a few millimeters of scar left behind.
Microscopy is the aforementioned microscope examination. telemedicine it is a distance consultation. Contrary to appearances, consultations between pathomorphologists are very important because if one is not sure about the result of the study, the material can be analyzed by other professionals in the field.
Cytochemia in turn, it involves the assessment of the chemical composition of cells and tissues, while histochemia gives the opportunity to detect various elements inside cells that may become relevant over time diagnosis. These include, for example, mucus that is found in adenoma cells, fats present in cancer cells or melanin, which is characteristic of melanoma cells.
The last of the techniques mentioned, i.e. molecular biologyis the study of the structures of proteins and nucleic acids. Pathomorphology more and more often it uses molecular methods. They are used to detect, for example, genetic susceptibility to cancer or the presence of residual disease, i.e. cancerous cells that remained in the patient’s body after suffering from leukemia or lymphoma.