Services / Pathology
Pathology
When tissue is taken from you at a biopsy or an operation, pathology is where it goes: a doctor examines it under a microscope and writes the report your own doctor treats from.
If you have been told you need a biopsy, this page is about what happens to the sample after it leaves you. It goes to the laboratory, is prepared over several steps, and is examined under a microscope by a pathologist, a doctor trained to diagnose disease from tissue and cells.
You will not meet the pathologist. The report goes to the doctor who took the sample, and it is that doctor who tells you what it means and what happens next.
What happens to your sample
Tissue cannot be read the moment it is removed. It goes through a fixed sequence, and each step takes time that cannot be shortened without spoiling the result.
- The sample is put into preservative as soon as it is taken, so the cells stop changing.
- It is processed and set into a small block of wax so that it can be cut.
- Very thin slices are cut from the block and mounted on glass slides.
- The slides are stained, so that the different structures in the tissue can be told apart.
- A pathologist examines the slides under a microscope and writes the report.
- If the slides do not settle the diagnosis, further stains are done on the same block. This adds days. It is done to make the answer more certain, and it does not usually mean another biopsy.
Why it takes longer than a blood test
A blood sample is measured by an analyser, and most laboratory results are ready within 24 hours. A biopsy is not measured, it is read, and the preparation before anyone can read it takes days rather than hours.
The hospital does not publish a turnaround time for histopathology. If your sample is taken as an outpatient, a guest relations executive tells you when the report is expected before you leave. If you are in a ward, ask the doctor who took the sample. Ask for that date, and write it down.
Who reads your sample
The report is read and signed by a consultant pathologist. Pathologists do not hold outpatient clinics, so there is no appointment to make with one and no consultation to attend.
Getting the report
A text message goes to your registered mobile number when a report is ready. You can then view or download it by logging in to the patient centre on the hospital website or app, using the user ID and password you were given at registration, and collect a printed copy when it suits you. The doctor who ordered the test sees the same report in your electronic record.
Take the report back to the doctor who took the sample. A pathology report is written for a doctor, and its wording has to be read alongside your scans, your examination and your other tests.
If you feel unwell after a biopsy
Bleeding that will not stop, a fever, or pain that is getting worse after a biopsy is not something to wait out until the report arrives. Call 040 4699 9999 or come to the emergency department. Do not book an appointment and wait.
Other samples pathology reports
Blood counts, chemistry, hormone assays and cultures are run by the hospital laboratory. See Lab Services for how a sample is given and how quickly ordinary results come back.
- Tissue taken at endoscopy or during an operation
- Cervical and uterine samples, including endometrial sampling
- Kidney biopsy, examined by light microscopy and immunofluorescence
- Bone marrow, for blood disorders and blood cancers
- Tissue removed at bladder and prostate surgery
- Body fluids and cell samples
How to come
- How to arrange it
- There is nothing to book. Pathology receives samples taken during a procedure, an operation or a clinic visit ordered by your treating doctor. Reports are released to the patient centre at https://mserve.virinchihospitals.com/PatientCenter/login with the user ID and password issued at registration, and a printed copy can be collected. For the report itself, ask the doctor who took the sample.