Pathologists have been making diagnoses using a microscope for the last 250 years.
It can be challenging and we are constantly endeavouring to improve how we do our job. As pathologists for the London Sarcoma Service, we are given small amounts of tissue from a swelling or an area of abnormality seen on an x-ray or scan and asked to say what the abnormal tissue is.
We have to decide if the tissue is a tumour, and if a tumour, is it a benign tumour (the tumour does not spread to other parts of the body), or a malignant tumour (cancer). The tissue may also be from an area of infection (an abscess or tuberculosis). Today, different tumour types can be treated differently, so making the correct diagnosis is important.