Slices of wax, tissue samples, a freezer and other specialized equipment is used to find answers to some of life's most puzzling questions.
A special lab at Saint Joseph's/Candler is where urgent decisions are made."I consider myself like a referee. I've gotta call it the way I see it, “ says Pathologist Dr. Anthony Hejka.
Dr. Hejka and his assistant Iris Kelly are on the frontlines in the war against cancer. "It's difficult because we do a lot of palpable biopsies where somebody comes along with swollen lymph nodes or breast masses," says Dr. Hejka.
Known as the doctors doctor, day after day Dr. Hejka's footsteps lead to Radiology or the Operating room to pick up tissue samples removed by the surgeon.
The order -determine what's going on inside the patient's body. "Could be a cancer metastatic. So we're gonna do some studies,” says Dr. Hejka.
In the lab they step up efforts to get an answer while the surgeon is in the operating room.
Dr. Hejka's expertise is critical. In most cases he's making a decision about a patient who in may never get to meet him.
"What we're concerned with in Pathology is to get an accurate diagnosis, " says Dr. Hejka.
Dr. Hejka's test helps personalize the type of tumor the patient has.
Here's an example – he shows slides that hold the future of a woman who just had a lumpectomy. Once the slides are put under a microscope the small images magnify into acres and acres of cells.
The cells in that picture determine the type of cancer, but Dr. Hejka says that decision requires another highly trained eye. "If you ever get a malignant diagnosis you always have somebody else do a second look at it." Dr. Hejka says the final diagnosis will determine the proper treatment for the patient.
A group of 6 Pathologists at St. Joseph's/ Candler does the same job everyday.
If you have any questions you can always ask your Oncologist for the Pathologist's report.
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