Histological Dissection

The curriculum is set by the Institute of Biomedical Science (IBMS) and covers the following:

Clinical Governance

This is the process by which we ensure safe working, accurate sampling, consistent reporting etc. Principles of clinical governance, Health and Safety at Work, COSHH, infection control, patient identification, clinical audit will all be covered.

General Principles of Dissection

You will look at the underlying principles of dissection - what are we trying to achieve and why? Reviewing the RCPath tissue pathways and datasets, considering SOPs, limitation of practice, when to ask for help. Standard terminology, dissection equipment, specimen photography will be covered.

Surgical Procedures

The specimens received by the laboratory have been obtained in a certain way, via specific surgical procedures. The nature of the procedure tells us a lot about the clinical picture. We'll consider shaves vs curettings, incisional vs excisional, mammotome vs needle core, wedge vs lobe and so on.

Pathological Procedures

The underlying pathology can have specific macroscopic appearances. The clinical information provided may be associated with a particular presentation and you will learn how to relate these. We will discuss inflammation (acute vs chronic), apoptosis vs necrosis, scaring and tissue healing, hyperplasia, metaplasia, neoplasia etc.

Anatomical Nomenclature

Particular terminology is used to describe the position of limbs, organs and locations - do you know your cranial from your caudal? We will navigate from McBurney's point to the glabella, using an anatomical atlas.