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For example, a common application of cytopathology is the Pap smear, a screening tool used to detect precancerous cervical lesions that may lead to cervical cancer. Cytopathologic tests are sometimes called smear tests because the samples may be smeared across a glass microscope slide [ 4 ] for subsequent staining and microscopic examination.
Molecular pathology is focused upon the study and diagnosis of disease through the examination of molecules within organs, tissues or bodily fluids. [21] Molecular pathology is multidisciplinary by nature and shares some aspects of practice with both anatomic pathology and clinical pathology, molecular biology, biochemistry, proteomics and ...
Molecular pathology is an emerging discipline within anatomical and clinical pathology that is focused on the use of nucleic acid-based techniques such as in-situ hybridization, reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction, and nucleic acid microarrays for specialized studies of disease in tissues and cells. Molecular pathology shares some ...
physiological state-dependent cells such as fetal cells in pregnant and ex-pregnant women; circulating tumor cells (CTCs) which are of diagnostic value in diagnosing various cancers. The diagnostic problem is to find and identify the rare CTCs among the abundant other cells in a given blood sample.
Tumor markers can be molecules that are produced in higher amounts by cancer cells than normal cells, but can also be produced by other cells from a reaction with the cancer. [2] The markers can't be used to give patients a diagnosis but can be compared with the result of other tests like biopsy or imaging. [2]
For example, the ColoGuard test may be used to screen people over 55 years old for colorectal cancer. [57] Cancer is a longtime-scale disease with various progression steps, molecular diagnostics tools can be used for prognosis of cancer progression. For example, the OncoType Dx test by Genomic Health can estimate risk of breast cancer.
The Oncotype DX® breast cancer assay is one such test used to predict the likelihood of breast cancer recurrence. This test is intended for women with early-stage (Stage I or II), node-negative, estrogen receptor -positive (ER+) invasive breast cancer who will be treated with hormone therapy .
Grading in cancer is distinguished from staging, which is a measure of the extent to which the cancer has spread. Pathology grading systems classify the microscopic cell appearance abnormality and deviations in their rate of growth with the goal of predicting developments at tissue level (see also the 4 major histological changes in dysplasia).