Histopathology and Cytopathology Laboratory in Mumbai

Histopathology And Cytopathology

This department deals with tissue and specimen analysis which provides the final disease diagnosis and helps the physician/surgeon define an effective treatment plan for the patient.

A major area of focus and expertise in this department at Kokilaben Hospital is Oncopathology. Other areas of expertise include Core and Scopic Biopsies, Neuropathology, Nephropathology and Transplant Pathology. The Histopathology team comprises of experienced Consultant Histopathologists, supported by trained and dedicated technologists.

Intra-operative consultation of frozen specimen is one of the key services provided by this department. This includes providing the primary diagnosis, margin status and the nodal status of the tumour to the oncosurgeon during the surgical procedure within a timeframe. This immediate on-time review and analysis helps the surgeon to decide the extent of the on-going surgery.

The resected specimen in then processed for further examination and assessment for tumour stage, grade, type, margins and nodal status. These findings collectively provide the final histopathology report which helps the oncologist define a treatment plan for the patient and gives a prognosis.

The department also conducts immunohistochemistry staining procedures. These deal with identification of tumour markers in the specimen which helps in the final diagnosis of undifferentiated tumours.

The tumour marker analysis also helps in decision making for evaluating whether a patient would respond to the targeted therapy. This is also known as theranostic or therapeutic diagnosis. Targeted therapy is the latest and emerging field of cancer treatment that is focused on identifying and treating only the tumour cells and does not impact the healthy cells in the patient. This targeted therapy minimises the side effects of cancer therapy. Some examples of targeted therapy are – Her2Neu/ER/PR status in Breast Cancer, CD20 in Non-Hodgkins lymphoma and CD 117 for Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumour.

When the available specimen or sample size is extremely small (in mm range), highly skilled expertise is required to process and analyse these micro-samples. The histopathologists at Kokilaben Hospital are leading experts in this field.

The histopathologists also perform FNAC procedures and report on a large number of pap smears, fluids and radiologically guided FNAC smears. Specialised tests like Immunohistochemistry on cell block material are also performed.

This sub-specialty of histopathology requires specialised diagnostic skills. At Kokilaben Hospital, the histopathologists concentrate on tumour related neuropathology, intra-operative frozen sections and interpretation of stereotactic biopsies.

Analysis of kidney related specimens requires high level of expertise and experience. Besides providing the foundation information into the primary diagnosis of the disease, the histopathologists at Kokilaben Hospital conduct immunofluorescences studies.