What Is The Role Of The Pathologist In Diagnosing Prostate Cancer?

March 16, 2009 -- Question: What is the role of the pathologist in diagnosing prostate cancer?

Answer: The pathologist will assist the urologist in making the diagnosis of prostate cancer. The pathologist has specialty training in looking at cells and patterns of cells under the microscope. They will typically be sent the specimen and after looking at it under the microscope and doing any special stains that may be needed, they'll then call the urologist back and let them know whether there's the presence of cancer in the specimens or not and what the type of cancer is.