Anatomical Pathology
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​​Division of Anatomical Pathology

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Diagnostic Services

The Division of Anatomical Pathology provides a comprehensive diagnostic service to Tygerberg Hospital and approximately half of the Western Cape public health sector. Consultation services are offered to the private sector and to NHLS laboratories in the Eastern Cape respectively. The division also offers special services and expertise including electron microscopic support for service and research, a fine needle aspiration (FNA) clinic, rapid on-site cytology diagnostic services, and consultation services especially in the fields of dermatopathology, electron microscopy, neuropathology, nephropathology, perinatal pathology and cytopathology. Specialised services include the application of flow cytometry and cellblocks using material obtained from FNA of lymph nodes and other selected tissues. The prion laboratory, the only one of its kind in Africa, offers specialised skills and infrastructure as a referral laboratory for specimens with suspected prion disease. The electron microscopy unit provides a service to the public and private sectors and to researchers from other faculties at Stellenbosch University and other higher educational institutions, including the University of the Western Cape and the MRC.

 

The pathology research facility (PRF) facilitates the development and introduction of new diagnostic molecular pathology tests through national and international collaboration. In addition to supporting clinical geneticists, selected molecular tests are offered for the diagnosis, prognostication and therapeutic interventions of various haematological malignancies, colorectal carcinoma and carcinoma of the breast, including MammaPrint that can be performed on formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissue samples.