Histotechnology Medical Imaging

Catalog description

Histotechnology is the preparation of anatomic pathology materials for further examination, typically microscopic in nature. Although the most common type of preparation includes embedding, cutting and staining formalin-fixed anatomic pathology materials for microscopic review, this course will also introduce ancillary techniques that are frequently used in combination with routine histologic preparations for diagnostic or investigative tissue evaluation. Special emphasis will be given to practical sectioning of frozen sections of variety of unfixed tissues. In the Medical Imaging part of this course, students will be introduced to and perform hands-on exercises in medical photography. Medical photography serves an important role in preserving the intact appearance of a specimen before it has been dissected for further testing. It may be regarded as a form of medicolegal documentation but can also provide information to a pathologist about gross features of a lesion and can be used to designate histologic sections. Photographs may also be used to document a specimen for medicolegal purposes, annotate microscopic descriptions sampled from a complex surgical pathology specimen, enhance a pathology report, or for educational purposes. This course is meant to be an introduction to medical photography, with the understanding that the student will be provided with further disease-specific photography opportunities in second year rotations.