Potential uses of the transmission electron microscopy in pathology

Routine light microscopy along with immunohistochemistry methods are adequate tools for the diagnosis of the most diseases in pathology They are important because well-defined diagnosis are required to determine patient prognosis and treatment. Sometimes we need another methods, like iFISH, PCR, sequencing or electron microscopy, to more accurate determine of disease. One of these methods, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), is an essential instrument for elucidating the ultrastructural morphology of cells and tissue.

Electron microscopy contributes to an understanding of the structural intricacies of normal and disordered cells and tissues. TEM is also important and sometimes indispensable technique in the investigation and diagnosis of diseases. It can reveal structures that are beyond the possibilities of light microscopy resolution. TEM can add important data for example about cell-cell interactions (such as tumor cell interaction with endothelium at the point of metastasis), about cytological changes (organelles, cytoskeleton, etc.) or about cytoplasmatic accumulations of electron-dense material. In nowadays is electron microscopy used in cancer diagnosis, diagnosis of glomerulopathies, diagnosis of genetic and metabolic diseases and infectious agents and other.

In our notification we present several cases in which transmission electron microscopy was used.