Anatomic Pathology Basic Overview

If you have been searching for anatomic pathology reporting software or information about anatomic pathology on the Internet then you have arrived at the right place. In this article, we will be giving you a basic overview of anatomic pathology. So let us head to the article.

Anatomic pathology is a branch of medicine that is directly associated with the study of the effect that the diseases cause on the structure of body organs. It is studied microscopically and through gross examinations. The main function revolves around the identification of issues that can lead to proper diagnosis and potential treatment of the disease. Most commonly, anatomic pathology is used to identify different types of cancers and tumors but it can even be used for other conditions like infections, liver, and kidney diseases.

Some people confuse anatomic pathology with laboratory medicine or clinical pathology but it is actually different from it. Clinical pathology is concerned with body fluids, identification of microbes, etc. You need to understand both the branches of pathology as this can help you better understand the tests. Now let us have a look at two main subdivisions of anatomic pathology:

1)      Histopathology: Histopathology is the microscopic examination of a surgical tissue (biopsy) which is cut into small fragments, stained with chemicals and prepared as glass slides for examining under a microscope. Staining techniques and antibodies are used as part of the examination by highly trained pathologists for the manifestations of disease.

2)       Cytopathology:  Second major subdivision is cytopathology also known as cytology.  It is the examination of a single or small group of cells from tissue under the microscope. The most common cytology test is the Pap Smear.  It is the job of the pathologists for providing the diagnosis details to their clients who are usually other medical practitioners.

Some anatomic pathologists also deal with medico-legal issues as they are associated with performing post-mortem examinations, also known as autopsies. An autopsy is performed after a person has died due to an illness or an accident which due to whatever reasons did not get properly identified before the death occurred. Proper formalities are met before performing the autopsy test like the permission of the dead person's family members to perform the autopsy test. If the cause of the death is not a normal one and/or is related to a perceived illegal activity then it will be performed by a Forensic Pathologist. For the varied anatomic pathology needs, SpeedsPath, Inc. has been offering an innovative, cloud-based, easy to learn and use Anatomic Pathology Lab Information System, SpeedsPath LIS.

When a surgeon receives an anatomic pathology report, he sees many sections like the patient and referring doctor demographic information, tissue name, body site and the procedure used for extraction, gross and microscopic descriptions, diagnosis, etc. These are some of the commonly listed items in the report. You may also come across some medical terms which can be studied and understood by a specialized doctor only. We recommend patients to ask their  primary care physicians to interpret the pathology results. It is best to have these tests be performed by a lab which is well equipped with the necessary lab resources including a modern AP LIS system such as SpeedsPath LIS to manage the end-to-end specimen workflow from receiving a test order to results reporting accurately, completely and efficiently.

An innovative, modern, cloud-based anatomic pathology LIS, such as SpeedsPath LIS, will help a lab to reduce cost, maximize revenue and help with all the regulatory requirements to run it efficiently with fast turn-around times.