Pathology Services
Our team of pathologists work closely with our oncologic surgeons, radiation oncologists, medical oncologists and radiologists in the diagnosis and evaluation of liver and pancreatic cancers.
Expert Fine Needle Aspiration (FNA) Biopsy Evaluation
For pancreas and liver lesions suspicious for malignancy, when the best diagnostic approach is a CT guided FNA performed by a radiologist, there are two fellowship trained cytopathologists (both trained at MD Anderson Cancer Center) who work closely with the radiologist to ensure that the material obtained is diagnostic and handled in the best possible way. At the time of the procedure, the cytopathologist evaluates the sample for an immediate diagnosis/assessment and handles the specimen so that the best diagnostic testing can take place.
Expert Surgical Pathology
All tissue specimens are processed at Stamford Hospital using the most advanced tissue staining system (Symphony by Ventana Medical Systems). Stamford Hospital was the first institution in the state to use this advanced technology, which allows for most accurate tissue evaluation.
Molecular Pathology
Because there are many different types of pancreatic and liver cancer, accurate classification of tumor type is important. Prognosis and therapeutic options are both dictated by tumor type. Immunophenotyping of tumors is performed at Stamford Hospital using advanced immunostaining platforms, which allows our pathologists to accurately classify liver and pancreas malignancies.
Expert Intraoperative Pathologic Evaluation
Our pathologists are skilled in helping the surgeon assess intraoperative surgical margins. By working closely with our oncologic surgeon, we can determine adequacy of surgical margin while the patient is still undergoing the operation. The objective of any surgery is to obtain negative (clean) margins. We are proud that at Stamford Hospital that our frozen section diagnostic accuracy surpasses national benchmarks.
For more information or to make an appointment please call
1-877-233-WELL (9355).