Extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma is a type of cancer that starts in the bile ducts outside the liver — the small tubes that carry bile from the liver to the intestine, where bile helps digest fats. It includes tumors of the common bile duct and of the hepatic ducts near where they exit the liver. Tumors that …
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Most patients, when they receive a pathology report, head straight to the diagnosis section to find out what was found. But many reports contain another section — sometimes the longest section — called the microscopic description. Filled with technical language about cell shapes, tissue patterns, and test results, this section can feel impenetrable at first …
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Receiving a pathology report is rarely the end of the process. For most patients, the report is the starting point — the document that confirms a diagnosis and sets everything else in motion. Understanding what happens next, who is involved, and how the information in your report is used to guide your care can help …
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Nodal marginal zone lymphoma is a slow-growing (indolent) blood cancer that starts in B cells — the white blood cells that help the body fight infection — and develops primarily within the lymph nodes. It belongs to a family of cancers called marginal zone lymphomas, all of which originate from a type of mature B …
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Follicular lymphoma with a predominantly diffuse growth pattern is a rare and recently recognized subtype of follicular lymphoma — a group of blood cancers that start in B cells, the white blood cells that help the body fight infection. Unlike the more familiar form of follicular lymphoma, in which the cancer cells grow in round …
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Myeloproliferative neoplasms are a group of blood cancers in which the bone marrow — the soft tissue inside bones that makes blood cells — produces too many of one or more types of blood cells. Unlike cancers, where cells multiply rapidly and stop functioning, the cells in myeloproliferative neoplasms usually look and work relatively normally …
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You have received a pathology report — or been told that your results are ready — but instead of a clear diagnosis, your report contains a note saying that results are pending, that additional testing is required, or that the case has been sent for further evaluation. This can be frustrating and unsettling, especially when …
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If you have had a Pap test, a fine needle aspiration, or a procedure to sample fluid from around your lungs or in your abdomen, the report you received was likely a cytology report. Cytology reports are different from the tissue-based pathology reports most people are familiar with — they are based on the examination …
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If you have been diagnosed with cancer, your pathology report will almost certainly include a stage. Staging is how doctors describe how far a cancer has grown and whether it has spread beyond where it started. The most widely used staging system in the world is called TNM. Understanding what TNM means — and how …
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When you receive a pathology report, many of the findings in it apply to concepts that go beyond any single diagnosis. Staging, grading, margins, testing methods, and report structure are the same whether you have a breast cancer diagnosis, a colon cancer diagnosis, or something else entirely. The articles in this section explain those concepts …
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