Pathology Services

Surgical Pathology

Surgical Pathology is bread and butter of most pathologists work day.  This deals with microscopic examination of tissue taken off of or out of a patient.  The pathologist makes a meaningful interpretation of the tissue based on the clinical information provided.  Our couriers will pick up your specimens and deliver or fax reports directly to your physician office.  See Forms for a histology requisition form, or we can deliver these to your office.

Fine Needle Aspiration (FNA)

Our pathologists perform this procedure on palpable nodules of both inpatient and outpatients.  If a lesion cannot easily be felt, this procedure is best performed by the radiologist under ultrasound guidance.  The pathologist would then interpret the cells sampled.  To schedule an FNA to be performed by the Pathologist, please call Karen or Sara at 803-909-2022.  Please fax the order to 803-327-7598.
 

Immunohistochemical Staining

Immunohistochemical (IHC) staining is a specialized antigen-antibody reaction which characterizes tissue as to its tissue type and possible origin.  There are many reasons to perform IHC staining, but probably the most common is to establish the origin of the malignancy, ie, where did this tumor come from.  IHC testing also gives information about whether or not a tumor will respond to a certain type of drug, among other things.
 

Specialized Tissue testing

This is performed uncommonly, and is generally requested by the treating oncologist.  Additional information may be needed to direct therapy or give prognostic information.  This is usually performed at a reference laboratory.