Diagnostic Histopathology Of Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Laboratory Tests (Histopathology, Biochemical And Imaging Tests) And Analysis
1. Introduction
Cancer can affect any organ in the body, which can lead to failure of the organ. HCC (Hepatocellular carcinoma) is a type of liver cancer. Unlike other liver cancers, it does not spread from other organs to the liver, as it mainly forms in the liver. Most of the people in the world who die of liver cancer mainly die from this disease. The symptoms of the disease mainly occur in the advanced stages rather than appearing in the early stages.
It is considered one of the most common types of liver cancer, mainly formed by any pre-existing liver disease. The disease is mainly caused by the infection of Hepatitis A and B, which leads to the chronic disease of the liver, defined as Cirrhosis. Long-term use of certain types of drugs can cause the liver's function to get disrupted, leading to getting infected by the disease. If Iron gets stored in the liver in large quantities, it can lead to infection in the liver.
The diagnosis of the disease can be done by a blood test, CT Scan, ultrasound, or MRI. In some cases, doctors might require the cells of the liver to be tested under the microscope to test for any cells of cancer in the tissues of the liver. This type of diagnosis can be done by putting the needle into the skin or cutting the belly to put the needle into the liver to get the tissue of the liver.
2. Aim
This study aims to explore different methods to detect HCC, which includes different types of laboratory tests. The laboratory tests will be assessed throughout the essay and the limitations of the tests will be discussed to find the most prominent ways for detecting the disease easily for effective treatment of the disease. Assessing thee test methods thoroughly the, some suggestions for new test will be discussed to evaluate the topic more briefly.
3. Methods
Histopathological techniques
The technique of histopathological test is used to study the structure of the cells, and it also helps to detect any changes in the cells of the tissue. Any changes in the cell might caused by any illness in the body, so the identification of the changes can be done analysing the structure of the cells. The tissues in the cells are collected test under the microscope to assess the structure of the cells, which leads to diagnosis of the disease. By doing surgery or biopsy, the sample of the tissue is collected to conduct research about the infected cell. After collection of the tissue, the tissue is submerged in a fixation solution for further process. Next, the issue is processed through the use of alcohol, and then some parts of the tissue are cut for further processing of the test. After this, the tissues are stained by using some carbohydrates such as PAS (Periodic Acid Schiff), at the end, it is kept under the microscope for studying the tissue thoroughly (Ajileye and Esan, 2022).
Biochemical and molecular tests
The test includes examining the biological substance by using some kind of chemical to test the reaction of the chemical on it., The test is done to diagnose the disease. DNA and RNA are the main bases of the genes, their formation is used to study the information in the genes (Anderson et al., 2021). By collecting the samples through blood, saliva, feces, or urine, the long strands of DNA and RNA are tested. The cells are tested through the molecular test and to look for any changes in the genes are examined by the changes in the molecule. Any changes in the molecule is the indication for any complication in the body High concentrated chemicals are used to conduct the bio-chemical test. It can lead less complication in testing the substance in the body to detect any critical disease (Cardoso et al., 2023).
Imaging methods
Imaging methods are used to detect any type of complication in the body, these methods includes different types of techniques are used to test any type of abnormality in the body, these techniques X-ray, CT scan, MRI, and ultrasound. A visual representation of the body is seen through these techniques, that can help to know any abnormal growth in the body for further treatment process (Willer et al., 2021). X-ray helps to see the structure of the bones and any problem in soft tissues inside the human body. A detailed picture of the organs such as liver and heart can bee presented by MRI. It can help to detect any growth of tumor inside the body (Singh et al., 2023). Imaging method can also help to see the size and structure of the tumor, which is very important detect the condition of the body.
4. Results
Any abnormality in the cells of the tissue can be tested through the method of histopathological technique. To test for any growth of cancer, the technique is very evident as it tests the cells of the body to look for any abnormality in the cells by finding any resemblance of the tumor cells, studying the pattern of the tumor cells, analysing the characteristic feature of the tumor cells. In this case, the accurate sampling of the tissues is important to find out the root cause of the disease. One of the important ways to point out the cancer cells in the tissue is the loss of the normal reticulin network near the cells of the tumor (Yasir et al., 2021). The cells of the tumor are differentiated by examining the structures of nucleoli and measuring the increased number of cytological atypia in the tumor cells.
It is very important to integrate both biochemical and imaging data to detect the growth of HCC or identify the symptoms of the disease. It can help to present very detailed data about the disease in the human body. Biochemical data might help to detect the symptoms of cancer even before testing the imaging data (Crosby et al., 2022). This can help in earlier diagnosis of the disease and can lead to the treatment to effective. Sometimes, the growth of cancer cells can be caused by any type of tumor in the body, so detecting the growth of the tumor can be done by testing the imaging data Imaging data can help to identify the growth of the tumor, and biochemical data can help to identify the type of cancer. Integrating both data can help doctors to identify the type of cancer and its stages (Tran et al., 2021), which helps the doctors to plan the effective treatment for the disease. By analysing both data, doctors can predict the future condition of the patients and if the patient is going to survive or not. Integration of both data can also help the doctors monitor the stages of the disease and study the effectiveness of the treatment on the patients.
5. Discussion
Critical evaluation of the histopathological method
Through the method of histopathological technique, the cells are examined to detect the abnormality in the cells, mostly cancer is based on the disruption in cells of the tissues in the body. If performed perfectly, then this method can be very effective in detecting the growth of the disease. However, any misinterpretation in the test can lead to biases in the test data. Using this method, a wide range of tissues can be tested in the body (Pascoal et al., 2022), Testing the tissues can be very time-consuming as it requires a very detailed process for testing the tissues.
Critical evaluation of biochemical and molecular method
The method of biochemical and molecular methods is very simple to perform and widely accepted. In this process, the data is limited to test any variations in genetic changes of the body. The method is very suitable to analyse the data quickly in some specific situations. The molecular method is suitable for analyzing the variations in the genetic conditions of the samples. Using molecular methods can be very critical to testing the sample of the data, which is why the results of the data can be very critical, especially in some critical genetic conditions (Jagadeesh et al., 2022).
Critical evaluation of the imaging method
The method of imaging is best to identify any abnormalities in the bones, but in some cases studying the cells of the body cannot be done by this method. Interpreting the data might lead to some kind of complication.
Suggestions for new diagnostic tests
In some cases, blood tests can be used to identify any changes in the DNA, and mostly AFP (Alpha-fetoprotein) test can be done to detect the growth of the cancer. The biopsy of the liver can lead to better detection of the abnormality in the cells (Głowska-Ciemny et al., 2023).
6. Conclusion
In conclusion, the disease of HCC is very critical and most people in the world die from this type of liver cancer. This is the most critical liver cancer, which can be caused by Hepatitis B and C. Mostly the method histopathological, biochemical, molecular, and imaging data is used to determine the growth of the cancer cells in the body. Research is being conducted to test the most significant ways to detect any mark of cancer cells in the body. The integration of all the methods is very effective to make treatment effective and early recognition of the disease.
Finding medical diagnostics assignments challenging? Our subject-matter experts provide reliable online assignment help, delivering well-researched, accurate work that meets university academic standards with confidence.
7. References
Ajileye, A.B. and Esan, E.O., (2022). Fixation and fixatives in histopathology: a review. Bayero Journal of Pure and Applied Sciences, 15(1), pp.231-243.
Anderson, K.E., Lobo, R., Salazar, D., Schloetter, M., Spitzer, G., White, A.L., Young, R.M., Bonkovsky, H.L., Frank, E.L., Mora, J. and Tortorelli, S., 2021. Biochemical diagnosis of acute hepatic porphyria: updated expert recommendations for primary care physicians. The American Journal of the Medical Sciences, 362(2), pp.113-121.
Cardoso, B.D., Castanheira, E.M., Lanceros‐Méndez, S. and Cardoso, V.F., (2023). Recent advances on cell culture platforms for in vitro drug screening and cell therapies: from conventional to microfluidic strategies. Advanced Healthcare Materials, 12(18), p.2202936.
Crosby, D., Bhatia, S., Brindle, K.M., Coussens, L.M., Dive, C., Emberton, M., Esener, S., Fitzgerald, R.C., Gambhir, S.S., Kuhn, P. and Rebbeck, T.R., (2022). Early detection of cancer. Science, 375(6586), p.eaay9040.
De Matos, J., Ataky, S.T.M., de Souza Britto Jr, A., Soares de Oliveira, L.E. and Lameiras Koerich, A., 2021. Machine learning methods for histopathological image analysis: A review. Electronics, 10(5), p.562.
Głowska-Ciemny, J., Szymański, M., Kuszerska, A., Malewski, Z., von Kaisenberg, C. and Kocyłowski, R., (2023). The role of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) in contemporary oncology: The path from a diagnostic biomarker to an anticancer drug. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 24(3), p.2539.
Jagadeesh, K.A., Dey, K.K., Montoro, D.T., Mohan, R., Gazal, S., Engreitz, J.M., Xavier, R.J., Price, A.L. and Regev, A., (2022). Identifying disease-critical cell types and cellular processes by integrating single-cell RNA-sequencing and human genetics. Nature genetics, 54(10), pp.1479-1492.
Pascoal, E., Wessels, J.M., Aas‐Eng, M.K., Abrao, M.S., Condous, G., Jurkovic, D., Espada, M., Exacoustos, C., Ferrero, S., Guerriero, S. and Hudelist, G., (2022). Strengths and limitations of diagnostic tools for endometriosis and relevance in diagnostic test accuracy research. Ultrasound in Obstetrics & Gynecology, 60(3), pp.309-327.
Singh, S., Hoque, S., Zekry, A. and Sowmya, A., (2023). Radiological diagnosis of chronic liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma: A review. Journal of Medical Systems, 47(1), p.73.
Tran, K.A., Kondrashova, O., Bradley, A., Williams, E.D., Pearson, J.V. and Waddell, N., (2021). Deep learning in cancer diagnosis, prognosis and treatment selection. Genome medicine, 13, pp.1-17.
Willer, K., Fingerle, A.A., Noichl, W., De Marco, F., Frank, M., Urban, T., Schick, R., Gustschin, A., Gleich, B., Herzen, J. and Koehler, T., 2021. X-ray dark-field chest imaging for detection and quantification of emphysema in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a diagnostic accuracy study. The Lancet Digital Health, 3(11), pp.e733-e744.
Yasir, S., Chen, Z.E., Said, S., Wu, T.T. and Torbenson, M., (2021). Biopsies of hepatocellular carcinoma with no reticulin loss: an important diagnostic pitfall. Human pathology, 107, pp.20-28.
