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Unit Code 4993:
Electron Microscopy

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Useful For

Tumor identification and the diagnoses of medical disorders such

as storage diseases and immotile cilia syndrome

 

Investigation of ceroid lipofuscinosis and characterization

of inorganic deposits such as in pneumoconioses

Clinical Information

Crucial diagnostic information for the study of human disease may

be provided by transmission and scanning electron microscopy.

Often information of a confirmatory nature or of educational

value to the clinician and pathologist can be obtained by this

procedure.

 

In recent years, the technology involved in electron microscopy

has progressed to the point where methods have become

standardized and the instumentation routine. The electron

microscope is a fundamental tool in medical diagnostic and

cellular pathobiological investigations, because it is at this instrument's

level of resolution that most structural correlations with function and

metabolism are visible.

 

Reference Values

The laboratory will provide an interpretive report.

Interpretation

The photographs and case histories are correlated and

interpreted by a pathologist who is an expert in the field of the

suspected diagnoses. 

 

Representative micrographs are provided upon request.

Cautions

Certain factors are necessary for interpretation of electron

microscopic photographs as follows:

-  Optimal fixation of viable and representative tissue is imperative.

-  Biopsies must be accompanied by a history, hematoxylin-and-

   eosin stained section, and a paraffin block.

-  The tissue submitted must have been viable at the time of

   fixation.

-  Selection of tissue representative of the lesion is essential.

Clinical Reference

1.       Damjanov I: Ultrastructural Pathology of Human Tumors. St. Albens,

VT, Eden Press, Vol. 1, 1979, Vol. 2. 1980

Key