A pair of micrographs of a<unk>  specimen showing a 3-dimensional cluster of cancerous cells (serous carcinoma)<unk>  (from Greek , kytos, "a hollow"; , pathos, "fate, harm"; and , -logia) is a branch of pathology that studies and diagnoses diseases on the cellular level. The discipline was founded by George Nicolas Papanicolaou in 1928.<unk>  is generally used on samples of free cells or tissue fragments, in contrast to histopathology, which studies whole tissues.<unk>  is frequently, less precisely, called "cytology", which means "the study of cells".<unk>  is commonly used to investigate diseases involving a wide range of body sites, often to aid in the diagnosis of cancer but also in the diagnosis of some infectious diseases and other inflammatory conditions. For example, a common application of<unk>  is the Pap smear, a screening tool used to detect precancerous cervical lesions that may lead to cervical cancer.<unk> c tests are sometimes called smear tests because the samples may be smeared across a glass microscope slide for subsequent staining and microscopic examination. However, cytology samples may be prepared in other ways, including cytocentrifugation. Different types of smear tests may also be used for cancer diagnosis. In this sense, it is termed a cytologic smear. Micrograph of a pilocytic astrocytoma, showing characteristic bipolar cells with long pilocytic (hair-like) processes. Smear preparation. H&E stain
Cytopathology
Hematopathology
Histopathology
Pathology
Tissue typing
Mycology
Histology
Biopsy