Surgical Pathology

Facilities

  • Surgical Pathology Suite
    Location and Contact Number

    The Gross Room is located on the 2nd floor of John Sealy Annex, Room 2.186, and is directly across the hall from the 25 Operating Rooms of John Sealy Hospital.

    Phone: (409) 772-2855.

    Gross Room Staff

    Medical Technician II: Mushtaque Husain

    Gross Room Facilities
    • Frozen section station with 2 Thermo Shandon cryostats a double-head sign-out microscope with an overhead video monitor.
    • Frozen section sign-out station at our double-headed microscope and overhead video monitor (not in photo).
    • Five grossing bays are available for cutting of gross tissues, each equipped with a dictation system.
    • Gross photography is performed with a stand-mounted Canon PowerShot G7 digital camera hardwired to a Canon i900 Photo Printer.
    Sign-out

    Routine Surgical Pathology cases are stratified into categories of biopsy and surgical resection for purposes of sign-out. Generally then, for biopsies and surgical cases, a team of one Surgical Pathology Faculty, one Surgical Pathology Fellow and one Resident will assume responsibility for daily microscopic evaluation and sign-out.

    Within the spacious sign-out rooms and with utilization of a 10-head teaching microscope, along with several multi-head assessment and sign-out microscopes, Residents and Fellows have ample equipment and facilities for managing the wide variety of general and subspecialty cases. For conference presentations, the 10-head teaching microscope may be directed to a larger audience with use of a high-definition video camera output to a high-definition LCD monitor.

    Specimen Submission

    Surgical Pathology Specimens are to be submitted along with a completed Surgical Pathology Laboratory Tissue Consultation (Requisition Form 86). Except as appropriate, specimens should be submitted in 10% neutral buffered formalin in a plastic container labeled with the patient's first and last names, unit history number and specimen identification. Deliver to Surgical Pathology Laboratory, Room 2.186, John Sealy Annex, 7:30 AM to 4 PM. After hours, specimens may be left in the refrigerator adjacent to the Surgical Pathology Laboratory that opens to the OR corridor. Surgical Pathology Personnel will pick up specimens twice per day in outpatient clinics Monday through Friday.

    Note: Request form must include ICD-9 code, physician's name, ID code, signature, clinical history and diagnosis.

    Note: Pre-filled containers with 10% neutral buffered formalin are provided by Surgical Pathology Laboratory, Room 2.186, John Sealy Annex.

    For specimen specific details for proper handling and submission, please refer to the UTMB Laboratory Survival Guide - Anatomic Path Procedures.

  • The Histopathology Lab
    Location and Contact Numbers

    The Histopathology Lab is located at Clay Hall, Building 31.

    Phone: (409) 772-2869
    Fax: (409) 772-2421

    Histopathology Lab Staff

    The exceedingly diligent histopathology team begins the day at 4:30 AM in order to have 90% of our clinical diagnostic slides available for sign-out by 9 AM each week day.

    The histopathology lab team receives sectioned gross tissues from the Surgical Pathology Gross Room and processes these samples to produce microscopic clinical diagnostic slides.

    From our histopathology lab, routine hematoxylin and eosin slides are provided for each Surgical Pathology specimen within 24 hours of accession.

    In addition to routine H&E diagnostic slides, the histopathology lab also has available 50 special histological stains. Last year, of the greater than 160 thousand histopathology slides generated, clinical diagnostic efforts were supported with 9000 special stained slides.

  • The Immunohistochemistry Lab
    Location and Contact Numbers

    The Immunohistochemistry (Special Procedures) Lab is located at Clay Hall, Building 31.

    Phone: (409) 772-0639
    Fax: (409) 772-2421

    Immunohistochemistry Lab Staff

    Cathy Goodridge, HT(ASCP), QIHC
    Histotechnician III
    Phone: (409) 772-2869

    Immunohistochemistry Lab Services

    The Immunohistochemistry Lab provides services to pathologists by using direct immunofluorescence and immunoperoxidase techniques.Our antibody menu currently includes more than 100 different antibodies.

    Immunohistochemistry Lab Facilities

    The superb support from our Immunohisto-chemistry Lab team provided our Pathologists with more than 10,000 immunostained slides for diagnostic Surgical Pathology cases last year.

    Additionally, the Special Procedures team afforded more than 1000 immunostained slides for Dermatopathology cases, as well as another 1300 slides to support research and educational efforts in the Department of Pathology.