HISTOPATHOLOGY
The main use of histopathology is in clinical medicine where it typically involves the examination of a biopsy (i.e. a surgically removed sample or specimen taken from a patient for the purposes of detailed study) by a specialist physician called a pathologist.
Specific pieces of tissue or biopsies are taken that are associated with the condition under investigation and sent to the laboratory, usually in a fixative solution to prevent degradation of the tissue, so that when the microscopical examination of the tissue is made, it resembles the state of the tissue as close as possible to what it was when still within the patient.
Diseases such as inflammatory diseases, benign abnormal growth, infections and cancer are diagnosed by this method.
