<h4>What is a pathology report?</h4><p style="margin-left:0px;">A pathology report is a written medical record of a tissue diagnosis. A tissue diagnosis is the diagnosis made when a piece of tissue is examined by a pathologist, a doctor who is trained to examine tissue. He or she interprets the findings in tissue and makes a diagnosis. More than anything else, the pathology report dictates the management of a cancer and greatly impacts the management of other diseases.</p><h4>Who is a pathologist?</h4><p style="margin-left:0px;">A pathologist is a medical doctor who trains at least four years after graduating from medical school in how to examine tissue and make tissue diagnoses. Most pathologists train more than four years and specialize in making diagnoses in different areas of human disease. For instance, breast tissue may be examined by a pathologist specializing in surgical pathology and breast pathology.</p><h4>What kinds of tissue do pathologists examine?</h4><p style="margin-left:0px;">Pathologists are trained to examine tissue that may be as small as a dozen cells. Usually tissue is removed by a surgeon, a radiologist or another physician and sent to pathology for examination. Tissue can be cells taken by fine needle aspiration, a small core needle biopsy, a larger piece of tissue that is meant to remove a lesion or a very large piece of tissue that is a whole organ such as a whole breast or a lung.</p><h4>How do pathologists examine tissue?</h4><p style="margin-left:0px;">Pathologists examine tissue at two levels. First, the pathologist examines the tissue with his/her eyes and fingers to find abnormalities. If the piece of tissue is large, the pathologist will cut it into many slices so s/he can find small lesions that may be hidden in the tissue. The pathologist looks and feels for parts of the tissue that are abnormal. She or he looks at the location of the abnormalities and how far a lesion is from the edges of the tissue specimen. The edges are called "margins". For very small tissue samples, all of the tissue is processed to make microscopic slides. For larger tissue samples, the pathologist selects the parts of the tissue that looks and/or feels abnormal as well as some of the normal tissue for processing to make microscopic slides. Most of the time, the pathologist can make a diagnosis based on this first level of tissue examination. However, the pathologist confirms a diagnosis by examining sections under a microscope to make a final or microscopic diagnosis.</p><h4>What are the types of tissue that pathologists examine?</h4><p style="margin-left:0px;">Tissue removed for pathologic diagnosis fall into two general categories: Tissue that is removed to make a diagnosis but not to treat a lesion is called a biopsy. Biopsies can be very small pieces of tissue such as those obtained with a needle or they can be larger with stitches needed to close the hole left from removing the tissue. Tissue removed to treat a lesion is called a resection. Usually resections are large pieces of tissue, sometimes a whole body part such as a stomach, large bowel or a breast. Sometimes a piece of tissue is removed both to make a diagnosis and to treat the lesion. A breast lumpectomy may both remove and diagnose a lesion causing a mass.</p><p><br>&nbsp;</p>