Clinical Pathology
Baylor College of Medicine’s Department of Pathology and Immunology is on the cutting edge of an often overlooked but important component of healthcare – clinical pathology. Whether patients are awaiting results from a cancer screening or a COVID-19 test, clinical pathologists are at the front lines performing crucial analyses of blood, tissue and other biological samples. This work is critical to accurate disease diagnosis and timely provision of lifesaving treatments.
Pathology Chair Martin Matzuk, M.D., Ph.D. leads the Department’s clinical pathology practice, Baylor Medicine Pathology. Baylor Medicine Pathology faculty staff 43 regional hospitals and surgery centers in the Texas Medical Center and across the state, providing unmatched clinical pathology services to many areas in the State of Texas.
Addressing Major Global Healthcare Challenges
With the help of forward-thinking donors, CPA is extending its reach to underserved communities across the nation and around the world. CPA’s planned expansion addresses three major global healthcare challenges by leveraging the latest digital pathology technologies and Baylor’s excellence in patient care and health sciences training.
- Medically underserved communities in the United States and around the world have limited access to on-site pathology services, leading to delays in diagnosis and treatment for cancer and other serious illnesses.
- There are not enough pathologists to staff all locations that need them. This deficit is exacerbated by insufficient numbers of newly trained pathologists entering clinical practice.
- The costs of veterinary pathology services are often so prohibitive that many pet owners have no choice but to forego them. This leads to unnecessary suffering and premature loss of treasured companion animals.
Non-digital pathology involves processing tissue and other biological samples on glass slides for review under a conventional microscope to render a diagnosis. In areas without access to traditional clinical pathology labs, samples are sometimes sent to other states for testing or peer consultation. This can be a long process that leads to delays in diagnosis and vital treatments.
Digital pathology’s use of digitized slides helps to eliminate medical disparities caused by geography. The ability to upload and share digitized images of biological samples gives hospitals in rural areas and patients in medically underserved locations access to qualified pathologists. Baylor’s CPA is a national leader in digital pathology and is extending the reach of this important service line through its planned expansion.