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Asked by xxkatemcxx to Enda, Jean, Kate, Kev, Tim on 12 Nov 2012.
Question: What does Cytopathology involve?
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Kevin Lomasney answered on 12 Nov 2012:
@xxkatemcxx,
In general within life sciences (biology, physiology etc.) cyto refers to cell and pathology is generally the study of how diseases work or their disease path if you like! So cytopathology is the study of diseases within cells themselves. For example, if you have a disease in your brain , such as Alzheimer’s disease, scientists studying the cytopathology of Alzheimers will try and find out what is wrong within the nerve cells (neurons) themselves and not just look at the brain as a whole. In cancer research, cytopatholgy is very important as cancer is due to cells which grow and multiply uncontrolably because the signals and control mechanisms have changed within the cell. Therefore its is very important to understand how the cell works and what goes wrong in the cell for diseases like these and many if not all other diseases.
Comments
Jean commented on :
Kevin has given a great answer. I answered this too but it looks like it didn’t save it. Anyway it was pretty much the same. I just want to add one thing which is why cytopathology is really handy. You don’t need a large sample:you can take a couple of cells from inside the body using a small needle. For this reason it can be used to biopsy (where a sample of tissue is taken and examined) a problem area without the need for an operation. It’s also possible get the cells using a swap (a glorified sterile cotton bud) making the collection very straightforward for both the patient and the healthcare worker. The cells that are taken are examined under a microscope, with or without the use of biological stains to highlight different areas. That way cytopathology can be used to diagnose a disease if you know what the cell should look like.
This is how a pap or cervical smear is performed.
xxkatemcxx commented on :
Thanks 🙂