Course overview
The aim of this course is to provide an understanding of the nature and types of histopathological techniques applied in the diagnosis of disease conditions in body tissues. Specimen collection and handling. Fixation, manual and automated tissue processing, paraffin and plastic embedding, microtomy, procedures for frozen sections. Mountants. Dyes and mechanism of staining, types of haematoxylin, metal impregnation, metachromasia. Theory and application of techniques for connective tissues, lipids, amyloid, microorganisms. Procedures for nucleic acids. Identification and significance of pigments in tissues. Mucin histochemistry. Enzyme histochemistry. Neural tissue techniques. Pathology of skin and gastrointestinal systems. Artefacts of specimen preparation.
Course learning outcomes
- Perform and report the laboratory procedures used in histopathological identification of normal and diseased tissues.
- Critically assess and problem solve histopathological techniques.
- Relate the alterations to normal tissue structure which occur in various disease states to the appropriate diagnostic procedures.