Cancer malignancy are initially recognized either because signs and symptoms appear or through screening. Neither of such lead to a definitive medical diagnosis, which usually requires the opinion of an pathologist, a type of physician (health practitioner) who specializes in the diagnosis of cancer and also other diseases.
Investigation
People with suspected cancer are investigated with tests. These commonly include blood exams, X-rays, CT scans and endoscopy.
Biopsy
A cancer may be suspected for various reasons, but the definitive diagnosis on most malignancies must be confirmed by histological study of the cancerous cells by a new pathologist. Tissue can be extracted from a biopsy or surgery. Many biopsies (including those of the skin, breast or liver) is possible in a doctor's office. Biopsies of other organs are generally performed under anesthesia and require surgery in the operating room.
The tissue diagnosis given by the pathologist indicates the cell that is proliferating, their histological grade, genetic abnormalities, and also other features of the tumor. Jointly, this information is useful to guage the prognosis of the patient and to find the best treatment. Cytogenetics and immunohistochemistry are other designs of testing that the pathologist may perform for the tissue specimen. These tests may provide specifics of the molecular changes (including mutations, fusion genes, and numerical chromosome changes) containing happened in the cancer cellular material, and may thus also indicate the longer term behavior of the cancer (treatment) and best treatment.
