Gross Pathology

Gross pathology refers to

macroscopic The macroscopic scale is the length scale on which objects or phenomena are large enough to be visible with the naked eye, without magnifying optical instruments. It is the opposite of microscopic. Overview When applied to physical phenomena a ...

manifestations of

disease A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that a ...

in organs, tissues, and

body cavities A body cavity is any space or compartment, or potential space, in an animal body. Cavities accommodate organs and other structures; cavities as potential spaces contain fluid. The two largest human body cavities are the ventral body cavity, and ...

. The term is commonly used by anatomical pathologists to refer to diagnostically useful findings made during the

gross examination Gross processing or "grossing" is the process by which pathology specimens undergo examination with the bare eye to obtain diagnostic information, as well as cutting and tissue sampling in order to prepare material for subsequent microscopic ''exa ...

portion of surgical specimen processing or an autopsy. It is vital to systematically explain the gross appearance of a pathological state, for example, a malignant tumor, noting the site, size, shape, consistency, presence of a capsule and appearance on cut section whether well circumscribed or diffusely infiltrating, homogeneous or variegated, cystic, necrotic, hemorrhagic areas, as well as papillary projections. {{pathology-stub