Laboratory Medicine & Pathology

Anatomical and Molecular pathology

Anatomical pathology is a medical specialty related with the diagnosis of disease based on the macroscopic, microscopic, biochemical, immunologic and molecular examination of organs and tissues.

Two mail subdivisions in anatomical pathology are :

•  Histopathology refers to the microscopic examination of tissue in order to study the manifestations of the disease. Specifically, in clinical medicine, histopathology refers to the examination of a biopsy or surgical specimen by a pathologist, after the specimen has been processed and histological sections have been placed onto glass slides. 
•  Cytopathology examines free cells or tissue micro-fragments (as "cell blocks"), single cells or small groups of cells from scrapings or aspiration of fluid or tissue under the microscope  from various body sites to determine the cause or the nature of disease. 

Molecular pathology is an evolving branch within pathology which is concentrated in the study and analysis of disease through the investigation of molecules within organs, tissues or bodily fluids. Molecular pathology shares some characteristics of practice with both anatomic pathology as well as clinical pathology, molecular biology, biochemistry, proteomics, and genetics, and is sometimes considered as a "crossover" branch. It is multi-disciplinary in nature and focuses chiefly on the sub-microscopic characteristics of the disease. A key consideration is that more precise diagnosis is possible when the diagnosis is based on both the morphologic variations in tissues (traditional anatomic pathology) and on molecular testing.