The IMVS Histopathology Service:

• Serving Metropolitan and Country Areas
• Turnaround Times
• Ancillary Testing
• Frozen Section
• Neuropathology
• Bone and Joint
• Report Formats
• Fine Needle Aspiration
• Consultation
• Specialised Customer Reports
• Support for Training
• Clinicopathological Conferences
• Autopsy Service and Tissue Banking
• Centre for Research Excellence

The IMVS offers one of Australia's largest and most sophisticated services processing surgical histopathology specimens. Services are provided not only to South Australia's largest teaching hospital, the Royal Adelaide Hospital, but also to country and metropolitan public and private hospitals and to other laboratories.

The Division of Tissue Pathology Frome Road laboratories comprise a Principal Laboratory complex that deals with the majority of specimens requiring rapid processing for surgical histopathology examination and a number of specialised laboratories for Bone, Joint and Neuropathology specimens, including muscle and nerve biopsies.

The laboratories are staffed by expert consultant pathologists and non-medical officers who are able to provide prompt advice to local users of the service.

Extended working hours contribute to prompt reporting on routine surgical specimens. More complex specimens and those specimens requiring ancillary techniques take longer, but great emphasis is placed on providing an efficient service.

The Division receives a large number of tumours or suspected tumours for examination and has made important advances relating to the use of specialised ancillary techniques in tumour diagnosis:

Immunohistochemistry: the IMVS is one of the leading centres in Australia applying antibodies to subtype tumours. The technique provides important therapeutic and prognostic information. A wide range of antibodies can be used on paraffin embedded tissue samples, including archival material.

Electron Microscopy: this technique plays an important role in routine examination of renal, muscle and nerve biopsies. The Division has established a strong reputation for its expertise in tumour diagnosis using transmission and scanning electron microscopy facilities together with energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analytical capabilities.

Molecular Techniques: the Division is actively involved in routine testing for some familial cancer syndromes ensuring coordination of the process and appropriate sample selection for DNA extraction. These tests are initiated, when warranted, by histopathologists at the time of routine microscopic evaluation.

Histoquantitation: this technique contributes to the diagnosis of muscle and nerve disorders. Semi-automated analysis of histological sections of these specimens is performed on a Quantimet 500MC image analyser. Computer generated statistical and graphical data, which describes the size distibution of muscle fibre sub-types and nerve fibres, are available to the Consultant Neuropathologist as an aid in diagnosis.

The Division provides a frozen section service for the Royal Adelaide and Noarlunga Hospitals. This involves the microscopic examination of small portions of rapidly frozen fresh tissue removed surgically and the provision of a diagnosis while the patient is still anaesthetised. Neuropathology provides a frozen section and muscle biopsy service in the Royal Adelaide Hospital and private hospitals.

Neuropathology provides a State wide service in Neuro-surgical pathology including frozen section. The laboratory service includes the detailed preparation of muscle and peripheral nerve biopsies using the most advanced histochemical, immunohistochemical, electron microscopical and histoquantitative techniques.

The bone and joint laboratories provide high quality preparation and interpretation of bone and joint lesions.

As the amount of prognostically and therapeutically important information obtained from histopathological evaluation is continuously growing, it is vitally important to ensure consistency and high quality reporting in such cases. To address this and in line with overseas recommendations, cancer resection specimens are reported using synoptic reports containing all essential data. These are regularly updated and supported by digital photographic images.

Sample report: colorectal cancer resection specimen.

Fine Needle Aspiration is a valuable diagnostic technique in which samples of lesions are obtained by a fine needle and then examined microscopically. The Division provides a Fine Needle Aspiration service for patients referred by hospital clinicians and general practitioners.

Click here for information about the fine needle aspiration service.

Senior Consultant Pathologists, with outstanding reputations for their diagnostic skills in both general surgical pathology and specialist areas, are available to provide advice on pathological problems and diagnosis to assist in case management.

Contact details for senior medical officers.

Specialised customer reports are provided to assist with patient management and quality assurances practises. These reports are as follows:

Patient List: this report lists those patients who have had a histopathology specimen reported by the IMVS in the past month.

Sample report.

To arrange for this report to be supplied, please contact the laboratory

The IMVS is the largest centre in South Australia for the postgraduate in-service training of anatomical pathologists. The Division offers the advantage to pathology trainees of supervision by specialist pathologists having not only a high level of general expertise in surgical pathology, cytology and autopsy pathology, but also with differing special skills in a range of disease disciplines. Pathologists and senior non-medical staff are also involved in undergraduate training, through close integration with the Department of Pathology in the University of Adelaide, and participate in post graduate and educational meetings in the Royal Adelaide Hospital. The Division organises the State wide interlaboratory rotation of trainees.

The Division continues its role as a major training centre for scientists and technologists, with support given to scientists involved in higher degree studies. Technologists are involved in courses leading to higher professional qualifications

Tissue Pathology also conducts educational sessions for trainee medical officers in other clinical disciplines, such as ophthalmology and radiology.

The pathologists participate in multidisciplinary clinicopathological case conferences with various Royal Adelaide Hospital medical and surgical units.

The Division provides an autopsy service to the Royal Adelaide Hospital and private practitioners. The Tissue Bank providing donor for graft purposes is run in association with the Division.

The Laboratory is a centre of excellence for clinical and basic research. Research is dominated by major studies of bone and joint disease, neuropathology, cytology and tumour pathology, with a special emphasis on the immunohistological characteristics of a wide range of tumours.

This research is successful in securing substantial support from the NH&MRC, the Australian Research Council, the Anti-Cancer Foundation of the Universities of South Australia, the Adelaide Bone and Joint Research Foundation, NIH (US) and a range of other bodies, including industry.

The major research elements associated with the Division are:

The Adelaide Centre for Spinal Research

Bone and Joint Laboratory

Histoquantitation and Electron Microscopy

Familial Tumour investigation by Immunohistochemistry

Cytology

Neurosciences Facility

For more information about research activities, click one of the above icons.