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How to handle ophthalmic biopsy specimen to optimize the results
Author(s) -
COUPLAND S
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
acta ophthalmologica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.534
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1755-3768
pISSN - 1755-375X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1755-3768.2013.3645.x
Subject(s) - medicine , biopsy , medical diagnosis , technician , referral , melanoma , ophthalmic pathology , radiology , pathology , general surgery , dermatology , ophthalmology , neuro ophthalmology , glaucoma , electrical engineering , family medicine , cancer research , engineering
Ophthalmic biopsies are performed for diagnostic & increasingly for prognostic purposes. The aim of the presentation is to provide "tips and tricks" for the surgeon, ophthalmic technician and pathologist in the work‐up of the typical and the "atypical" ophthalmic biopsy. The Liverpool Ocular Oncology Centre is one of three referral centres for adult ocular oncology in the UK. It receives close to 800 new referrals each year, with some of these being quite unusual cases. Contrary to practice in some centres, where there is a suspicion of choroidal metastasis of an underlying (possibly unknown) systemic tumour, an intraocular biopsy is performed as one of the initial investigations to confirm (or refute) the clinical impression. Morphological and immunocytological analysis can confirm the diagnosis and provide an indication of the site of the primary tumour. Further, genetic analysis of the tumour cells (e.g. EGF‐R mutations) may enable treatment choice. In the case of clear clinical diagnoses, biopsies are performed for prognostication purposes: e.g. in uveal melanoma. Close collaboration is required between surgeon and the pathology laboratory, in order to obtain the best diagnostic and prognostic yields from these samples.