What is surgical pathology?

Surgical pathology is the study of tissues removed from living patients during surgery or in the doctor's office to help diagnose a disease and determine a treatment plan. The surgical pathologist is a physician who provides consultation services for a wide variety of specialties. For example, during breast cancer surgery, a surgical pathologist's examination of tissues removed during surgery can help the surgeon to determine whether to remove additional lymph nodes under the arm. Surgical pathology includes both the physical examination of the tissue with the naked eye, as well as examining processed tissue under a microscope. Ancillary techniques include studying the expression of tumor markers by an assay called "immunohistochemistry." 

Examples of the uses of the technology include the ability to:

• distinguish between benign (non-cancerous) and malignant (cancerous) cells

• assess prognosis

• identify infectious agents in body tissues