Top Tips for Successful Biopsies

This course aims to help you get the best out of your histopathology submissions, including how to optimize your biopsies, fix them appropriately and avoid annoying artefacts which can lead to non-diagnostic samples. 

Practical advice on how to approach particularly challenging samples, such as limb amputations, spleens and large tumours, is covered. The course also provides critical information on to include on the submission form, how tumour margins are assessed, and an insight into what happens in a histology laboratory.

After successful completion of this course, you will:

Module 1:  The sample journey starts in your practice.

• Know how to obtain good quality tissue samples, avoid the most common problems, and understand why this is important.
• Know how to fix the sample and package it correctly, to avoid problems such as autolysis, distortion of samples and other artefacts which adversely impact on the histological assessment.
• Have an approach to more challenging submissions, like whole limb amputations, spleens and large tumours. 
• Understand the importance of the submission form, and what information is critical to the pathologist reporting on your case.

Module 2: What happens to your sample at the laboratory?

• Learn about what happens to your sample once it reaches the laboratory
• Understand some of the processes involved in producing the slides the pathologist views. 
• Understand how margins are assessed histologically for surgically excised tumours, including the different types of margins and what they can tell you.
• Be able to use tissue inking and suture tags effectively to aid in accurate margin assessment.