Surgical Pathology

The surgical neuropathology services at Queen Square have been continuously growing since 2004. Currently QS Neuropathology delivers state of the art neuro-oncology diagnostic services whilst meeting all critical key performance indicators, including full intraoperative cover during weekdays, turnaround times and MDT cover. Some of the services, e.g. molecular pathology are leading in the UK and provide extensive, clinically relevant molecular profiling of high grade and low grade gliomas, thus greatly facilitating identification and inclusion of patients into clinical trials. This was underpinned by creating a strong research infrastructure: The Brain Tumour Bank is a highly sought after resource, which has fostered internationally competitive collaborations across UCLP and beyond and significantly contributing to the UCLP strategy of strengthening brain cancer at Queen Square.

In 2012, more than 1000 tumours of the central nervous system and the spine were diagnosed in the Division of Neuropathology. In addition, there were 824 cerebrospinal fluid cytology samples, 94 nerve biopsies, 233 adult and 250 paediatric muscle biopsies as well as 61 post-mortem examinations, of which 28 were prion disease.