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Pathology & Laboratory Medicine

Clinical Laboratory Services

URMC / Pathology & Laboratory Medicine / Clinical Laboratory Services / Anatomic Pathology / Cytopathology

Cytopathology

Cytology teamCytologyCytology

Contact Information

Division of Cytopathology
University of Rochester Medical Center
601 Elmwood Ave. Box 626
Rochester, NY 14642
Main office: (585) 275-5656
Administrative office: (585) 275-1959

About Us

Cytopathology is a division of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

We strive for continued excellence and efficiency in patient care through state of the art technology. We value collaboration with colleagues in the healthcare community, and seek to share and educate others on the utility and potential of cytopathology for the study and diagnosis of cancer.

What Makes Us Unique

We bring a personalized, multidisciplinary, practice-based approach founded on the fundamental concepts of cytopathology. We employ a team approach starting from the time the sample is obtained. We strive for an accurate diagnosis, and to decrease ambiguity and uncertainty.

Services

The cytopathology laboratory provides clinical, prognostic and therapeutic diagnostic evaluations for most cancer types and consultative services for physicians. These include pap tests, cytologic evaluations of body fluids and fine needle aspiration (FNA) of a great variety of tumors and body sites.

We assist with and also perform fine needle aspiration biopsies on patients with deep seated and superficial lesions, respectively. These FNA’s can be scheduled by appointment and are performed either in the cytopathology laboratory clinic, at the bedside, on hospital floors, or in outpatient clinics.

We currently provide the following services:

  • Performing, processing and interpreting fine needle aspiration of superficial tumors (palpable or ultrasound-guided).
  • Assistance with rapid on-site evaluations (ROSE) for:
  • Computed tomography guided FNAs (CT-guided FNAs)
  • Endobronchial ultrasound guided FNAs (EBUS-FNAs)
  • Endoscopic ultrasound guided FNAs (EUS-FNAs)
  • Electromagnetic navigation bronchoscopy fine needle aspirations (ENB-FNAs)
  • Triage of cytologic material for various molecular studies including PDL-1, EGFR, EML4-ALK, ROS 1, BRAF, KRAS, etc.
  • Triage of cytologic material for immunostains, microbiology cultures, and flow cytometry studies.

Education

The cytopathology division provides continuous educational activities for in house staff and physicians as well as trainees including medical students, residents, and fellows.

The educational offerings include:

  • Weekly integrated anatomic pathology conference on decision making models that incorporate clinical, laboratory, imaging, gross, cytology, histology and ancillary pathology studies.
  • Weekly didactic cytopathology fellow-resident lectures.
  • Quarterly hands-on workshops for handling aspirated material, smearing, and rapid on site evaluations.
  • On an as-needed basis: cancer prevention related outreach.

Fellowship

The Stanley F. Patten Cytopathology Fellowship is a one-year ACGME-accredited fellowship offering advanced training in diagnostic cytopathology, including application of ancillary techniques such as immunocytochemistry, flow cytometry, molecular diagnostics and electron microscopy to cytologic specimens. Considerable emphasis is placed on correlations between cytopathologic and surgical pathologic diagnoses. Pathologists perform superficial FNAs. The fellow also participates in interdepartmental conferences and in teaching residents and medical students. Individuals interested in applying must have completed a four-year accredited AP/CP Pathology Residency program and be board eligible/certified.

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