The Section of Pulmonary and Postmortem Pathology, together with the Cytopathology Section, Hematopathology Section, Surgical Pathology Section, and Ultrastructural Pathology Section provide complete service in anatomic pathology for the Clinical Center patients and collaborate with the research staff of all institutes in those investigations which involve the use and study of human pathological material. The Autopsy Suite was recently renovated and new equipment specially designed for safety was developed in conjunction with the Occupational Safety and Health Branch, Division of Safety, Office of the Director. A set of special autopsy safety policies, many of which were developed in our department, is utilized to protect our staff and residents from exposure to tissues contaminated with high risk infectious agents and radiation. The pulmonary and autopsy pathological material is being actively utilized by the staff and residents for research projects involving clinicopathological correlation and pathological characterization of diseases studied at the Clinical Center. Electron microscopic and immunocytochemical techniques are being applied to study of these diseases. A comprehensive study of the pulmonary pathology of the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is currently being conducted based on surgical and autopsy lung pathology material from AIDS patients seen at the NIH.
