Clinical Pathology

Clinical pathology is a specialized field within pathology that utilizes laboratory techniques, including hematology and clinical chemistry, to identify, define, or confirm the presence of a disease.

Haematology

Hematology is the branch of medicine concerned with the study of the cause, prognosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases related to blood. It involves treating diseases that affect the production of blood and its components, such as blood cells, hemoglobin, blood proteins, bone marrow, platelets, blood vessels, spleen, and the mechanism of coagulation. Such diseases might include hemophilia, sickle cell anemia, blood clots (thrombus), other bleeding disorders, and blood cancers such as leukemia, multiple myeloma, and lymphoma.[3] The laboratory analysis of blood is frequently performed by a medical technologist or medical laboratory scientist.

Histopathology

It involves using a microscope to look at human tissue to check for signs of disease. The term is derived from “histology” (meaning the study of tissues), and “pathology” (meaning the study of disease).1 A Histopathology report describes the findings of a specialist known as a medical pathologist. Examples include the accumulation of white blood cells seen with infections, crystallized deposits that occur with gout, granular lumps characteristic of tuberculosis or sarcoidosis, or abnormal cell formations seen with cancer.

Microbiology

Medical Microbiology involves the identification of microorganisms for the diagnosis of infectious diseases and the assessment of likely response to specific therapeutic interventions. Major categories of organisms include bacteria, mycobacteria, fungi, viruses, and parasites. Microbiological methods combined with clinical symptoms, additional laboratory tests, and imaging techniques are used in combination to distinguish a true disease-associated infection from colonization with normal flora or other conditions, such as malignancies, inflammatory disorders, or autoimmune disorders, all of which have unique therapies and prognoses for the patient. Laboratories combine the use of traditional microscopy and culture methods, with a rapidly evolving set of molecular and proteomic techniques. Given the increase in immunocompromised patients due to an increase in transplantations, the human immunodeficiency virus epidemic, and the use of immunosuppressive agents to treat autoimmune disorders, diagnosis of microbial infections continues to be essential for many patients.

Serology

Serology is the scientific study of serum and other body fluids. In practice, the term usually refers to the diagnostic identification of antibodies in the serum. Such antibodies are typically formed in response to an infection (against a given microorganism), against other foreign proteins (in response, for example, to a mismatched blood transfusion), or to one’s own proteins (in instances of autoimmune disease). In either case, the procedure is simple.

Serological tests

Serological tests are diagnostic methods that are used to identify antibodies and antigens in a patient’s sample. Serological tests may be performed to diagnose infections and autoimmune illnesses, to check if a person has immunity to certain diseases, and in many other situations, such as determining an individual’s blood type. Serological tests may also be used in forensic serology to investigate crime scene evidence. Several methods can be used to detect antibodies and antigens, including ELISA, agglutination, precipitation, complement-fixation, and fluorescent antibodies and more recently chemiluminescence.

Cytogenetics

Cytogenetic testing is the examination of chromosomes to determine chromosome abnormalities such as aneuploidy and structural abnormalities. A normal human cell contains 23 pairs of chromosomes, including 22 pairs of autosomes and a pair of sex chromosomes (XX or XY). Aneuploidy involves having one or more extra chromosomes (e.g., 47 XX +21, 48 XXXY) or having missing chromosomes (e.g., 45 XO). The most common aneuploidies are Down syndrome (trisomy 21), Edward’s syndrome (trisomy 18), Turner syndrome (monosomy X), etc.

The types of structural abnormalities are:

  • Duplication: Part of a chromosome is repeated
  • Deletion: Part of a chromosome is missing
  • Translocation: Material between two different chromosomes is exchanged (this exchange may be balanced or unbalanced)
  • Inversion: Part of the chromosome is inverted within the chromosome
  • Insertion: Addition of material from another chromosome.
Cytogenetic testing can be performed in a variety of situations, including solid organ malignancies, hematologic malignancies, congenital diseases. It can be performed prenatally after biochemical screening or ultrasound with abnormal findings. It is also used for parents with multiple miscarriages or significant findings in their pedigree analysis. Postnatally, Cytogenetic testing plays a role in distinguishing patients with mosaicism, intellectual disability, autism, or developmental delays. Cytogenetic analysis can also be utilized to diagnose malignancies, determine appropriate therapy for prognostic stratification. This review explains the types of chromosome analysis, such as karyotyping, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), and chromosomal microarray analysis (CMA).

Molecular diagnostics

Molecular diagnostics  is a collection of techniques used to analyze biological markers in the genome and proteome, and how their cells express their genes as proteins, applying molecular biology to medical testing. In medicine the technique is used to diagnose and monitor disease, detect risk, and decide which therapies will work best for individual patients, and in agricultural biosecurity similarly to monitor crop- and livestock disease, estimate risk, and decide what quarantine measures must be taken. By analysing the specifics of the patient and their disease, Molecular diagnostics offers the prospect of personalised medicine. These tests are useful in a range of medical specialties, including infectious disease, oncology, human leucocyte antigen typing (which investigates and predicts immune function), coagulation, and pharmacogenomics—the genetic prediction of which drugs will work best. They overlap with clinical chemistry (medical tests on bodily fluids).

Biochemistry

Biochemistry Tests are the most common clinical laboratory tests used by clinicians to diagnose the pathological conditions of patients. For example, some tests and their clinical significances are as follows-
  • Liver: Bilirubin Total, Direct, and  Indirect, SGOT,  SGPT, S. Alk. Phosphatase, Protein, Albumin, Globulin, GGTP
  • Diabetes: Glucose Fasting and PP
  • Kidneys: Urea, Creatinine, Uric Acid, Sodium, Potassium, Chloride, Calcium, Phosphorus, S. Alk. Phosphatase
  • Heart: Lipid Profile, SGO , SGPT, Homocysteine
  • Nutrients: Protein, Albumin, Globulin,  A/G Ratio
  • Bones and Joint: Calcium, Phosphorus, Alkaline Phosphatase, Uric Acid
  • General Health: Haemogram, (Complete Blood Counts), Urine Routine, Blood Group
  • Metabolic Function: Glucose Fasting and PP, Urea. Creatinine, Uric Acid, Potassium, Sodium, Chloride, TSH

COPYRIGHT © 2024 – DOC AI DIAGNOSTICS – DESIGNED BY TEZTECCH