Onco Pathology

Department of Onco Pathology

The department of Laboratory Services:  The department of Laboratory Services plays a crucial role in supporting patient care by providing accurate and timely diagnosis which in turn has tremendous therapeutic implications. Our team of highly trained Doctors, medical technologists and clerical personnel, assure rapid TAT and efficient reporting of test results.


Scope of Service and Complexity of Care:
Our faculty, along with medical technologists, supported by state of the art equipment, leaves no stone unturned to ensure a proper diagnosis for each patient. The Laboratory is NABH accredited & soon to be NABL accredited. All the units are headed by Dr. Naveen Kumar Agarwal.


The Laboratory Services is further organized into following Departments:

1. Histopathology and Cytopathology.
2. Immuno Histo Chemistry.
3. Hematopathology.
4. Flow Cytometry
5. Cytogenetic and F.I.S.H.
6. Microbiology.
7. Transfusion Services.
8. Biochemistry.


Faculty :- The department of Laboratory Services consists of Senior Consultants, Consultants, clinical assistant and Senior Residents .

Histopathology and Cytopathology :-

Histopathology and cytopathology form the backbone of oncology patient management, more so in a tertiary care . Our lab maintains highest levels of quality to ensure most accurate and timely diagnostic services.

The laboratory is well equipped with latest and hi-tech equipments as follows :-

1. Fully automated vacuum assisted tissue processor
2. Cytospin for cytology
3. Fully automated immunohistochemistry (IHC)
4. Microtomes
5. Cryostat
6. Embedding station


The faculty members perform the following functions in Histopathology and Cytopathology

All tissues/aspirates /other cytological preparations are examined by highly trained and competent oncopathologists and cytopathologists

Annually report approximately 5,000 histopathology and an additional 2000 cytology exercising tight control on turnaround time

The routine microscopic examination is supplemented by special stains &IHC whenever required. The IHC paraphrenalia consists of 120 IHC markers of diagnostic and prognostic implications. More than 8,000 IHC tests are performed annually

Provides rapid frozen section diagnosis for surgeries performed in the operating room or in the outpatient clinics. About 700 Frozen sections are performed annually. The technical staff has been well trained for delivering good quality sections and staining

Provides rapid diagnosis for all cytology specimens comprising of FNAC, PAP smears, exfoliative cytology, body fluids etc

Teaching and training of the technical staff

Maintain work quality by proficiency testing in the form of external quality control programmes

Actively participates in EQAS for Surgical pathology (AIIMS Delhi & T.M.H., Mumbai), Cytopathology (T.M.H., Mumbai) and IHC (UNITED KINGDOM NATIONAL EQAS) AND breast prognostic biomarkers: ER,PR and HER2NEU (UNITED KINGDOM NATIONAL EQAS)

Our faculty participates in multispecialty clinics and research programmes , hence providing comprehensive patient care


Hematopathology  is an indispensible and distinct division of pathology department. It encompasses a wide range of blood, bone marrow and related disorders including both benign and malignant diseases.

Hematolymphoid neoplasms are one of the common malignancies in all age groups and accurate and timely diagnosis is the cornerstone for appropriate treatment.

Hematopathology laboratory at action cancer hospital provides round the clock facilities for peripheral blood count with 5 part, fully automated differential cell counters. The section receives around 80, 000 hemogram samples and more than 700 bone marrow samples annually.

A fully automated coagulation analyzer with provision to do a wide variety of coagulation tests is also available. Annually more than 3,000 samples are run on this analyzer.

The hematopathology section participates regularly in the external quality assurance program run by the All India Institute of Medial Science (AIIMS), Delhi and CMC Vellore.

The doctors are experienced in diagnosing the rare hematological disorders including both benign and malignant ones. To supplement the morphological diagnosis, state-of-the-art facilities for immunophenotyping of hematological neoplasm by Flow Cytometry and immunohistochemistry is also available. Flow cytometry facility is helpful not only for diagnosis and prognostication, but also for identifying appropriate therapeutic targets and assessing minimal residual disease.

The section also provides facility for stem cell enumeration for bone marrow transplant by flow cytometry.

Biochemistry 0verview The clinical biochemistry department does all the routine and specialized tests required for the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment.


The department has latest state-of-the-art equipments

Electrochemiluminiscence immunoassay system for carrying out cancer marker tests, hormonal assays

Electrolyte analyzer

Blood gas analyzer


The department of clinical biochemistry maintains the T.A.T., critical for the oncology patients.

The lab participates in external quality assurance programme , besides its internal quality assessment programme to ensure excellent and accurate results

The blood bank of action cancer hospital is a NABH accredited service. Issue of blood is carried out after grouping and cross matching on an automated platform to improve precision and accuracy. The Blood Bank also provides an excellent facility for harvesting of stem cells and Cryopreservation.


Microbiology:

The discipline of Microbiology offers a fantastic diversity of themes smallest micro-organism Bacteria followed by fungus are grown in this laboratory.  For early diagnosis and treatment, the department is equipped with rapid identification system such as Bactec – Alert and API used for identifying pyogenic bacteria, tubercular Bacteria and fungus. Facilities are available for their sensitivity as well. Variety of serological tests including ELISA tests are also available in this department.


Faculty expertise includes:

Bacteriology Analysis.

Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing.

Mycology.

Serology

The microbiology department participates in EQAS system from Shankar Netralaya, Chennai to provide excellent and accurate services. This is a department which helps doctors, detects diseases earlier and extends lives.d extends lives.


Infection Prevention and Control

Infection control is an essential component of any health care delivery. Infection control measures can be as simple as hand washing and as sophisticated as high-level disinfection of surgical instruments. Implementing these measures can prevent transmission of disease in health care settings and the community.


What is ACTION CANCER HOSPITAL doing to prevent infections?



Control of Hospital Acquired Infection (HAI) is not one time teaching or doing, but is a continuous process and team effort, ACH take measures to prevent infection by

Isolation of high risk patients.

Regulating antimicrobial use.

Monitoring and surveillance.

Numerous education materials have been developed to teach infection control measures to health care personnel and the public to prevent the spread of infections .

Educating staff, patients and their attendants with the help of power points and videos.

Organize Patient Safety Awareness Monthly programmes.


Hand Hygiene

Hand hygiene is of major importance for preventing the spread of infections. Hand hygiene includes washing with soap and water or using alcohol hand sanitizer before and after patient contacts.

Doctors