Biopsies and Their Significance

Abstract

The initiation of therapy for cancer has been and still is dependent on histopathologic diagnosis. Since microscopic anatomy has evolved, the trust of the clinician in the judgment of the pathologist has generally been unlimited. If his diagnosis is “cancer”, rather extensive therapy is usually begun. Only those who have with their own hands been responsible for the biopsy and for its histologic preparation, with all the inherent problems, can comprehend how difficult the diagnosis often is for the pathologist when he is faced with a minuscule piece of tissue, usually without knowing the clinical picture and frequently without more than the rather meager information that the specimen in question consists, for example, of tissue from the portio.