Anatomical pathology

Anatomical pathology is the branch of pathology that looks at tissue structure and biopsies; it is extensively used in tumor diagnosis.

The procedures used in anatomical pathology :

• examination with the naked eye (this is important especially for large tissue fragments)
• examination of stained sections on glass slides with a microscope (most commonly haematoxylin and eosin - a pink and blue stain)
• examination with special stains for iron, organisms, calcium, elastic tissue, mucins etc
• examination with immunoperoxidase and immunofluorescence stains - special antibody type stains especially useful in tumour pathology, in some inflammatory skin diseases and renal biopsies
• Electron microscopy
• Tissue cytogenetics

See also: Forensic pathology