Histopathologic

Histopathology (from the Greek histos "tissue", pathos "suffering", and -logia "study of") is the study of the microscopic anatomy of cells and tissues of plants and animals. It's commonly performed by examining cells and tissues under a light microscope or electron microscope, which have been sectioned, stained and mounted on a microscope slide.

Histopathological examination of tissues starts with surgery, biopsy, or autopsy. The tissue is removed from the body or plant, and then, often following expert dissection in the fresh state, placed in a fixative which stabilizes the tissues to prevent decay. The most common fixative is formalin (10% formaldehyde in water).

The tissue is then prepared for viewing under a microscope using either chemical fixation or frozen section.

Chemical fixation

Most histopathological slides are stained with haematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining. This staining helps to distinguish different types of tissue and cells. Other stains are often used to selectively stain cells, organelles, proteins, or other structures within tissue sections.

Frozen section processing

In urgent situations, a method called frozen section processing is used to achieve a rapid diagnosis. While less accurate and with less detailed detection of histopathological structures than the traditional fixed specimen processing, frozen section processing can be performed in a matter of minutes while the patient is still under anesthesia.

Histopathology methods

Histopathology refers to the microscopic examination of tissue to study the manifestations of disease. Specifically, in clinical medicine, histopathology refers to the examination of a biopsy or surgical specimen by a pathologist, after the specimen has been processed and histological sections have been placed onto glass slides.

Clinical significance

In contrast to cytopathology, which is the study of individual cells, histopathology is the study of whole tissues. It's very important in cancer diagnosis, where a biopsy of the tumor is examined and a histopathological assessment is given to a pathologist.

See also

• Cytopathology
• Pathology
• Biopsy
• Histology
• Anatomical pathology

Histopathologic Resources
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