pathtalk.org is a weblog about pathology and laboratory medicine.

Virtual Autopsy on a Multi-Touch Table

The Virtual Autopsy Table (developed by Norrköping Visualization Centre and the Center for Medical Image Science and Visualization in Sweden) makes use of high resolution CT And MRI. The images are rendered and processed into 3D models which can be manipulated using a the table’s multi-touch interface.
From the website:
The technique used in this table [...]

Mobile Phone-Based Light Microscopy and Image Analysis

A group of researchers at UC Berkeley has developed a portable, mobile phone-based light microscopy system (PLoS) for rapid computer-assisted analysis of clinical specimens in parts of the world where quality lab equipment or trained personnel are not available.

Autopsy article in the New York Times

The New York Times featured a short piece about autopsies yesterday. The article takes a somewhat skeptical tone in places:

We looked at each other, my surviving sister and I, and said no. It wouldn’t bring her back. We had had enough. We wanted to get on with funeral plans. Another reason, I realized [...]

How does a pathologist make a diagnosis?

The following document and presentation were recently delivered by pathologist Alan Proia at a meeting of ophthalmologists who wished to better understand how a pathologist arrives at a particular diagnosis. The presentation is centered around an interesting paper from the Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine by Brazilian pathologists Pena and Andrade-Filho, and includes [...]

Swine Flu Map

The World Health Organization has raised the worldwide pandemic alert level to phase 4 phase 5 for swine influenza, meaning that sustained person-to-person spread has been confirmed. Here is a map to follow suspected and confirmed cases of infection with the swine influenza A (H1N1) virus.

Wedge resection of a solitary lung mass

Clinical history
A 66-year-old woman presented with a solitary lung mass. Imaging characteristics were suggestive of malignancy. A wedge resection of lung was performed.
Pathological Findings
Gross examination of the wedge resection specimen showed a three-centimeter well-circumscribed, grey-white friable mass with central necrosis. The mass was sampled for frozen and permanent sections.
Microscopic examination revealed that [...]