 NEUROPATHOLOGY
Drs. Lopes and Mandell
The Division of Neuropathology provides instruction in medical and surgical neuropathology for the residents in Anatomic Pathology and full-time trainees in Neuropathology. For residents in Anatomic Pathology, neuropathology training begins during their first year rotations on the autopsy service and by didactic lectures and multi-headed microscope sessions given throughout the year. During a formal elective rotation through neuropathology, usually in year 4, the resident is more intensively trained in neurosurgical tumor pathology and neuromuscular pathology. Housestaff members interact closely with the full-time Neuropathology Fellows who act as consultants under the direct supervision of the neuropathology faculty.
During the first-year experience in neuropathology, the residents have primary responsibility for analyzing and describing the peripheral neuromuscular and central nervous systems in conjunction with general evaluation of their autopsy cases. They actively participate in the weekly autopsy-neuropathology dissection conference and the biweekly gross brain demonstration conference to dissect, discuss and demonstrate their cases in interdepartmental conferences with Neurosurgery, Neurology and Neuroradiology. The residents perform the microscopic examination, formally sign out their cases, and finalize their written reports on a one-one basis with the neuropathology faculty. They are thoroughly instructed in the cytologic brain smear technique of intraoperative diagnosis, because this technique complements the increasing use of stereotaxic biopsies for the rapid interpretation of CNS lesions.
An array of CNS/PNS tumors, neuromuscular biopsies, pituitary tumors, and brain biopsies provide ample teaching cases for surgical neuropathology. Under the guidance of the fulltime neuropathology trainees and the direct supervision of neuropathology faculty, residents taking a formal neuropathology rotation have responsibility for diagnoses of brain lesions. In addition, the anatomic resident on this senior rotation attends the neurosurgical clinicopathologic conference and surgical neuropathology slide conferences and studies the extensive neuropathology teaching slide sets with the guidance of neuropathology faculty.
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