Pathology tests

Pathology tests are tests to look at samples of the body's tissues under a microscope. The tests help your doctor find or check on a condition.

The tissue may come from a biopsy test, where a small piece of tissue is removed. Or it may come from removing an abnormal area (like a mole). It may even come from a whole organ.

Blood, body fluids, and cells (like a Pap smear) may also be tested.

Other tests may be done on a sample. These can include chemical tests and DNA tests to look for problems with genes.

A pathology test on a tissue sample, blood, or body fluid is done to:

Diagnose a health problem.

A doctor can find out if a problem is cancer, and if so, what type of cancer it is. A doctor also can learn if symptoms are coming from a different problem, such as infection or inflammation. A pathology test may also be done to check the results of a test or exam done for other reasons, such as a screening test for cancer.

Find out how bad a problem is.

When a doctor looks at tissue under a microscope, they can see if the cells don't look normal. The doctor also can find out if a problem has spread within an area or to other areas. What the cancer cells look like under the microscope can also help the doctor stage a cancer. Staging is a process that doctors use to describe how severe a cancer is.

See if a problem is getting better with treatment.

Your doctor can keep track of changes in your health by looking at tissue samples over time.

Make sure that problem tissue is gone.

After a mole or growth has been removed, a doctor can look at the tissue under the microscope to make sure that there are no more problem cells.