Gross processing

Individuals trained in these fields are often able to gather diagnostically critical information in this stage of processing, including the stage and margin status of surgically removed tumors.

Sufficient clinical data should be communicated by the clinical team to the pathology team in order to guide the appropriate diagnostic examination and interpretation of the specimen - if such information is not provided, it must be obtained by the examiner prior to processing the specimen.

The first is the gross description, a document which serves as the written record of the examiner's findings, and is included in the final pathology report.

Since only a minority of the tissue from a large specimen can reasonably be subject to microscopic examination, the success of the final histological diagnosis is highly dependent on the skill of the professional performing the gross examination.

The gross examiner may sample portions of the specimen for other types of ancillary tests as diagnostically indicated; these include microbiological culture, flow cytometry, cytogenetics, or electron microscopy.