What kind of department is the pathology department?

Despite the rapid development and rapid progress of modern medicine. But when it comes to the Department of Pathology, most people still have a vague understanding of the crucial department in the hospital. Some people believe that the Department of Pathology is for academic research, some people believe that the Department of Pathology is for managing patients' medical records and histories, and even some people believe that the Department of Pathology is for chemical testing, confusing the Department of Pathology and the Laboratory. Actually, it is not the case. Whether domestically or internationally, the pathology department has always been one of the essential departments in large comprehensive hospitals. In China, hospitals with a second level or above grade need to set up a pathology department, otherwise they will not be able to pass the evaluation; Western countries attach great importance to the construction of hospital pathology disciplines and the role of pathologists, and have established strict admission standards for pathologists and pathologists. Pathological quality control has been standardized and programmed, ensuring the stability and development of the pathology industry.

Position in the hospital system

All medical activities in hospitals are carried out with patients at the center. Any physician facing patients revolves around two central issues - diagnosis and treatment, and pathology plays a crucial role in diagnosis and treatment. Therefore, the role of pathology in the hospital system can be imagined.

The main task of the pathology department in hospitals is to complete diagnostic work on outpatient biopsy specimens and surgical resection specimens, which covers almost all clinical departments' most diagnoses. Pathological diagnosis is the final diagnosis of many difficult cases in clinical practice, and is therefore also known as the "gold standard". The accuracy of pathological diagnosis also has a significant impact on the clinical diagnostic level of clinical doctors. The difference between pathology and clinical diagnosis will inevitably constantly revise the diagnosis of clinical doctors. If the pathological diagnosis is not correct, it will inevitably mislead the clinical diagnosis. So correct pathological diagnosis can promote the continuous improvement of clinical doctors' diagnostic level.

On the surface, it seems that there is little relationship between the treatment level of the pathology department and the hospital, but in fact, it is not. With the improvement of pathological equipment and the improvement of biological tissue production technology, postoperative pathological diagnosis is becoming more and more common. Correct and appropriate treatment in the surgical department is based on correct pathological diagnosis. Pathological errors not only render any advanced treatment methods meaningless, but also bring irreparable trauma to patients, leading to medical disputes and serious adverse effects on hospitals.

Work in the Department of Pathology

The work of the Pathology Department includes biopsy, exfoliative cytology examination, biological tissue sectioning examination, immunohistochemistry examination, and molecular pathology examination. Through these tests, the nature of the disease can be determined, whether it is an inflammatory lesion or a tumor lesion, what type of tissue it is, what kind of inflammation it is, whether it is a benign or malignant tumor, the degree of malignancy of the tumor, and whether there is tumor metastasis.

Biopsy refers to the examination of living tissue, such as puncture biopsy, gastroscopy biopsy, colonoscopy biopsy, surgical specimen, etc., which is the main work of the pathology department. After the specimen is sent to the pathology department, the pathologist needs to go through processes such as sampling, fixation, and embedding to make the specimen into 2 × A 2cm sized wax block for easy storage and future management.

The principles currently followed in modern hospitals are:

1. Any tissue specimen taken from a patient must undergo histopathological examination;

2. The pathology department should issue a diagnostic report 48 hours after receiving the specimen (the time can be extended appropriately for large and special specimens);

3. The diagnostic accuracy of the biopsy report should be above 95%;

4. Any tissue specimen can only be used for other purposes (such as teaching or research) with the permission of a pathologist after examination. Only in this way can hospital biopsy work have a suitable position and play an important role in disease diagnosis.

Exfoliative cytology examination refers to the examination of human cells, including cervical cancer cytology slides, sputum smears, pleural and ascitic fluid, various cell puncture slides, etc. It is convenient, economical, reliable, and practical, and can make a clear diagnosis in simple operations.

Time limit for pathological reports

Anyone who has undergone a pathological examination knows that when you go through the procedures with a pathological application form, medical staff will tell you about how long it will take you to receive the pathological report, and some reports may not even be received on time. Why is this?

It can be said that the process from submitting an application form to the hospital issuing a pathological report is a very complex one. Firstly, when you submit an application form, it will be recorded in your medical record. The medical staff will summarize the situation of submitting the application form on that day and then hand it over to other people in the pathology department for processing. When other personnel in the department of pathology receive the summary table, they will find the corresponding specimens based on the patient's information and process them. After that, it is the real process of starting the examination. Depending on the examination items, the time from the beginning to receiving the results varies. When the pathologist receives the pathological examination results, they will draw a conclusion based on the examination results, which is what specific disease the patient has. When encountering some difficult cases, the department will also organize experts for consultation, that is, everyone will discuss next to a microscope, So as to come up with a satisfactory answer for everyone. After obtaining the answer, it will be submitted to the department that issued the report, and the organization will issue the pathological report.

Having said so much, I think everyone can also understand why it is so difficult to submit a pathological report from the application form to the hands of patients. It can be said that a pathological report is the result of the entire pathology department's labor and wisdom. I hope that patients and their families can have more understanding and trust in pathologists.

The difference between laboratory and laboratory

Most laboratory tests are generated by instruments, such as blood tests, where only objective data values are listed on the test form. Clinicians need to assist in their clinical diagnosis based on these data values. The report issued by the department of pathology is the direct diagnostic result. Pathological diagnosis is an empirical diagnosis, and the level of diagnosis is related to the experience and technical level of pathologists.

Pathology is not omnipotent either

Nothing in the world is omnipotent, and so is pathology. With the development of medicine to the present day, we have to say that it is impossible to make a clear diagnosis of diseases solely through the world under a microscope. Diseases are constantly changing, and different parts of the same organ in the same person may be different. Therefore, it is not appropriate to require a 100% accuracy rate for pathological diagnosis. This requires pathological doctors to constantly learn, accumulate knowledge day by day, work together with other medical colleagues, and develop multiple disciplines together. Perhaps one day, the world problem of cancer will be completely conquered by humanity.