Today I worked with Dr Trent Pansze, who is a pathologist at Mercy. He gave me a tour of the lab, and explained some of the instruments to me. For example, he showed me how several different slides are created, using a variety of machines. We also looked at several interesting slides, containing different examples of cancer or anemia. He showed me how he diagnosed leukemia, and what that looked like on a slide, compared to somebody who is anemic on a slide. It was all very interesting to see how these complicated diseases could be diagnosed on the molecular level, without even asking the patient about preexisting conditions or symptoms, as I had observed Dr Lawton doing.
Two of the most interesting things I saw today was a colon that had been removed due to volvulus, which is when the intestines literally flip over on themselves, which is common in horses or dogs but rarer in humans. I also got to see a 10-12 week old fetus, which was very rare because when a fetus is miscarried that early, rarely are they found to be in whole condition.
Also, while Dr Pansze was showing me some of his slides, an urgent call was put in from the OR, with a surgeon wanting to know whether or not they had gotten all of the cancer out of the urethras, so Dr Pansze examined some slides that his lab technicians had prepared for him from the urethra samples, and he found that all of the cancer had been removed, because of what he was able to observe using the microscope and his knowledge of cancerous tendencies when involving a specific body part, and its interactions with the non-contaminated area.
It was interesting for me to see another side of the medical field that didn't necessarily involve surgery, because it was still really interesting, and instead of looking at only very specific types of illnesses, it concerned everything from looking at colon biopsies to determine the presence of cancer, to observing PAP smears to determine the presence of HPV.
Two of the most interesting things I saw today was a colon that had been removed due to volvulus, which is when the intestines literally flip over on themselves, which is common in horses or dogs but rarer in humans. I also got to see a 10-12 week old fetus, which was very rare because when a fetus is miscarried that early, rarely are they found to be in whole condition.
Also, while Dr Pansze was showing me some of his slides, an urgent call was put in from the OR, with a surgeon wanting to know whether or not they had gotten all of the cancer out of the urethras, so Dr Pansze examined some slides that his lab technicians had prepared for him from the urethra samples, and he found that all of the cancer had been removed, because of what he was able to observe using the microscope and his knowledge of cancerous tendencies when involving a specific body part, and its interactions with the non-contaminated area.
It was interesting for me to see another side of the medical field that didn't necessarily involve surgery, because it was still really interesting, and instead of looking at only very specific types of illnesses, it concerned everything from looking at colon biopsies to determine the presence of cancer, to observing PAP smears to determine the presence of HPV.
