Health care providers may be unfamiliar with the workings of the pathology laboratory. The delivery of a specimen to the pathology laboratory initiates a complex series of events resulting in a pathologic diagnosis/interpretation. The following section reviews the importance and key objectives in the pathologic evaluation of tissue and provides information on the types and members of the pathology laboratory.

The goal of pathology examination of tissue is to provide accurate, specific and sufficiently comprehensive diagnoses to enable the treating physician to develop an optimal plan of treatment. There are hundreds of varieties tumors, most with characteristic biology, that require accurate diagnosis by pathologists.