Weeks 21 and 22: Anatomic Pathology!
A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to test my knowledge of a variety of species on the anatomic pathology block. For those of you unfamiliar to what exactly an anatomic pathologist is, let me break it down for you. These experts are some of the most brilliant and quirky people you will ever meet. To obtain the fancy title "anatomic pathologist" these professionals have to obtain a solid understanding of every species and subsequently, every disease that can impact said species. These experts perform necropsies on deceased animals and collect samples of their organs all with the hope that they can find out how the animal died and what disease process is occurring.
Sometimes this diagnosis can be made on the necropsy floor with obvious lesions, but other times the samples need to be fixed in formalin, stained, and examined under a microscope to look at things on a cellular level. This emphasizes the level of complexity and sheer amount of knowledge these experts must master.
During my time on this rotation, I had the opportunity to perform multiple necropsies on species ranging from dogs and cats to hawks, horses and goats. This was a great way to brush up on my large animal knowledge while also learning how to connect internal lesions to a clinical presentation.
This rotation was also one of the “tamer” rotations in our schedule. Most days began around 10:00 and ended around 6pm. We had topic rounds in the morning where we were able to pick topics that we wanted to discuss in further depth and explain their importance across a multitude of species. Once our morning rounds were over, we briefly reviewed our cases for the day and were each assigned a case to lead. We then took a quick lunch break before changing and heading to the necropsy floor. Once we were on the floor, we all did our own necropsies on our cases, collected our samples, and then cleaned up. Depending on the size of the animal and complexity of the case, we would have the opportunity to help other students finish up their case if we had finished early. After everyone had completed their necropsy and the floor was clean, we changed and headed back to the conference room. We would then take a few minutes to discuss our findings and preliminary morphological diagnoses. This was a great way to bring closure to a lot of the cases and fill in any knowledge gaps from earlier parts of the day.
Another fun part of this rotation was the ability to present at Gross Rounds on Friday morning. This gave the students on the rotation the ability to present one of their cases from the past week to a room full of pathologists and residents and receive feedback and foster clinical discussion.
While we were not directly working with clients, this rotation made me realize the gift it is to donate an animal to the pathology service for teaching purposes. Many of my cases were animals whose owner elected the necropsy service so that they could be used for learning and to ultimately explore their cause of death. Some of these cases include a dog with a massive tumor overtaking its chest and a dog with a brain tumor. Both necropsies provided an invaluable learning experience, and I know have a deeper understanding of how osteosarcoma and gliomas impact patients internally as well as their manifestation of clinical signs.
Overall, this was a unique rotation that provided a plethora of learning opportunities and the ability to become more comfortable with species and diseases that we may not have been exposed to in our respective tracks in the curriculum. The residents and faculty were absolutely wonderful and always willing to go above and beyond to make sure we learned as much as possible on this rotation. As a side note, I will be taking another two weeks of this rotation at the end of October and am looking forward to continuing to expand my pathology knowledge!
Quote of the rotation: “You don’t really die immediately with spinal trauma if you know what I mean”
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