Pathology

Question 1

what do they embed tissue sections in & “fix” with

Answer 1

fix with formalin
embed in paraffin

Question 2

H&E stain

Answer 2

• hematoxylin (blue) = basophilic - nuclear components or calcified material (bone)
• eosin (pink) = eosinophilic - cytoplasm/around nucleus, collagen, muscle, RBCs

Question 3

chromophobic vs amphophilic cells

Answer 3

• chromophobic = clear cell, nothing stains
• amphophilic = light purple, both stain

Question 5

reactive VS neoplastic

Question 6

low power microscope - what’s seen?

Answer 6

• architectural effacement (organization)
• cellularity (# of cells)
• cell population
• cell distribution

Question 7

high power microscope - what’s seen?

Answer 7

• cell size
• cytoplasm - what’s in it
• nucleus (pale purple = uncondensed, dark = condensed)
• proliferation features (apoptotic bodies)

Question 8

starry sky pattern

Answer 8

• stars = macrophages (white)
• dark spots = mitotic figures (fast growing)
• sky = tumour cells
• indicative of aggressive lesions with HIGH proliferative rate

Question 9

immunochemistry

Answer 9

• see what proteins are expressed by the cell
• certain cells and specific cancerss express certain proteins
• use COLOURED antibodies to tag antigen of interest (primary = tags antigen of interest, secondary = coloured)

Question 10

cytogenetics

Answer 10

• cytogenetic tests look at CHROMOSOMES in a set of cells
• karyotype = # and morphology of chromosomes
• FISH = # and location of parts of chromosomes
• abnormal karyotype can signal cancer (way too many copies)

Question 11

FISH: Diagnosis and Prognosis

Answer 11

• translocation:
  fusion = region of interest fuses together (normally separate)
  break apart = region of interest BREAKS apart (normally together)
• amplification: region of interest has too many copies (eg. HER2 lots of copies in breast cancer)