Pathology Consultation for the Gynecologic Oncologist: What the Surgeon Wants to Know.

Abstract

Clinical management of gynecologic malignancies is often multimodal. Pathologic diagnoses, patient-related factors, and disease-related factors all contribute to clinical decision making. To review the role of surgical pathology in treatment planning among women with gynecologic malignancies. An analysis of relevant literature (PubMed Plus [National Center for Biotechnology Information, Bethesda, Maryland] and Medline [Ovid, New York, New York]) and the authors' clinical practice experience were used. Pathologic evaluation of gynecologic malignancies with traditional histopathology, assessment of genetic alterations, and identification of tumor biomarkers are critical to traditional treatment planning as well as for ongoing clinical trials.