Gross examination
Encyclopedia
Gross examination or "grossing" is the process by which pathology
Pathology
Pathology is the precise study and diagnosis of disease. The word pathology is from Ancient Greek , pathos, "feeling, suffering"; and , -logia, "the study of". Pathologization, to pathologize, refers to the process of defining a condition or behavior as pathological, e.g. pathological gambling....

 specimens are inspected with the bare eye to obtain diagnostic
Diagnosis
Diagnosis is the identification of the nature and cause of anything. Diagnosis is used in many different disciplines with variations in the use of logics, analytics, and experience to determine the cause and effect relationships...

 information, while being processed for further microscopic
Histopathology
Histopathology refers to the microscopic examination of tissue in order to study the manifestations of disease...

 examination.

Gross examination of surgical specimens
Surgical pathology
Surgical pathology is the most significant and time-consuming area of practice for most anatomical pathologists. Surgical pathology involves the gross and microscopic examination of surgical specimens, as well as biopsies submitted by non-surgeons such as general internists, medical subspecialists,...

 is typically performed by a pathologist
Pathology
Pathology is the precise study and diagnosis of disease. The word pathology is from Ancient Greek , pathos, "feeling, suffering"; and , -logia, "the study of". Pathologization, to pathologize, refers to the process of defining a condition or behavior as pathological, e.g. pathological gambling....

, or by a pathologists' assistant working within a pathology practice. Individuals trained in these fields are often able to gather diagnostically critical information in this stage of processing, including the stage and margin status of surgically removed tumors.

The initial step in any examination of a clinical specimen is confirmation of the identity of the patient
Patient
A patient is any recipient of healthcare services. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, advanced practice registered nurse, veterinarian, or other health care provider....

 and the anatomical
Anatomy
Anatomy is a branch of biology and medicine that is the consideration of the structure of living things. It is a general term that includes human anatomy, animal anatomy , and plant anatomy...

 site from which the specimen was obtained. Sufficient clinical data should be communicated by the clinical team to the pathology team in order to guide the appropriate diagnostic examination and interpretation of the specimen - if such information is not provided, it must be obtained by the examiner prior to processing the specimen.

There are usually two end products of the gross examination of a surgical specimen. The first is the gross description, a document which serves as the written record of the examiner's findings, and is included in the final pathology report. The second product is a set of tissue
Tissue (biology)
Tissue is a cellular organizational level intermediate between cells and a complete organism. A tissue is an ensemble of cells, not necessarily identical, but from the same origin, that together carry out a specific function. These are called tissues because of their identical functioning...

 blocks, typically postage stamp-sized portions of tissue sealed in plastic cassettes, which will be processed into slides for microscopic examination. Since only a minority of the tissue from a large specimen can reasonably be subject to microscopic examination, the success of the final histological
Histopathology
Histopathology refers to the microscopic examination of tissue in order to study the manifestations of disease...

 diagnosis is highly dependent on the skill of the professional performing the gross examination. The gross examiner may sample portions of the specimen for other types of ancillary tests as diagnostically indicated; these include microbiological culture
Microbiological culture
A microbiological culture, or microbial culture, is a method of multiplying microbial organisms by letting them reproduce in predetermined culture media under controlled laboratory conditions. Microbial cultures are used to determine the type of organism, its abundance in the sample being tested,...

, flow cytometry
Flow cytometry
Flow cytometry is a technique for counting and examining microscopic particles, such as cells and chromosomes, by suspending them in a stream of fluid and passing them by an electronic detection apparatus. It allows simultaneous multiparametric analysis of the physical and/or chemical...

, cytogenetics
Cytogenetics
Cytogenetics is a branch of genetics that is concerned with the study of the structure and function of the cell, especially the chromosomes. It includes routine analysis of G-Banded chromosomes, other cytogenetic banding techniques, as well as molecular cytogenetics such as fluorescent in situ...

, or electron microscopy.

See also

  • Timeline of myocardial infarction pathology
    Timeline of myocardial infarction pathology
    This table gives an overview of the pathology seen in myocardial infarction by time after obstruction.For the first ~30 minutes no change at all can be seen by gross examination or by light microscopy in histopathology...

    , including gross examination findings
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