Cytopathology

How to Succeed in this Course

• Register, take the pre-course survey, and finish with the post-course assessment

• Read all material posted on the course website

• Engage with other classmates and course leadership on twitter with #CytoPathElective

• Enjoy you time learning about cytopathology!

Technical Help

• Use the Contact Us for for general technical help

Disclaimer:

Course materials have either been created specifically for PathElective.com or curated from free sources. When the course links to an outside source or link which is free, PathElective does not claim ownership or any rights to that material - we are merely promoting excellent pathology education with all due credit to original authors.

Course Description

Cytopathology is a broad field with a role to play in almost all major organ systems. Depending on the clinical scenario, cytopathologists and cytotechnologists review a variety of slides created via a variety of different processes (e.g. exfoliative versus aspiration and direct smears versus concentrated smears) and different stains in order to render diagnoses that aim to guide effective clinical, surgical, and oncologic treatment of patients. Pathologists may become subspecialty board-certified in cytopathology after completing an ACGME-accredited fellowship. In some ways, cytopathology can seem challenging or difficult to approach as it can feel like surgical pathology or histology “deconstructed” without the anatomic or tissue architecture. In this way, surgical pathology is often felt to be a prerequisite to learning cytopathology.  However, there is still hope for beginners to learn some basics. In this context, this course aims to provide an overview of what cytopathology is, does, and some lessons on how to practice it by review of most of the major organ systems.