It is an evaluation of tissues (using light microscope) taken earlier during endoscopy examination or surgical procedure. It helps to make a precise diagnosis: if clusters of cancer cells exist or not. The diagnostics is extremely important in identification of histological type of tumour, its grade of malignancy, and also is a decisive factor in choice of the treatment’s method and extent of excised change during operation. Material for this examination can derive, i.e. from surgical biopsy (that is an excision of the fragment or the whole change), fine-needle or core biopsy (oligobiopsy). In the last case needles of diameter bigger than 1.2 mm are used. Thanks to this it is possible to determine structure of examined tissue necessary to recognise character of change. Unfortunately, the method is painful and used usually when fine-needle biopsy does not give sufficient amount of information about examined change.

The next possibility is drilling biopsy, where put in rotary motion trepan, instead of the needle is used. It enables collection of bigger fragment of tissue than in core biopsy. Its structure is unchanged, what significantly simplifies the diagnosis.

Examination of such type can be also performed during operation (intraoperational biopsy).

Its aim is then to determine character of change, to make decision about extent of resection by the surgeon and to establish boundary of healthy tissue during excision of malignant tumours.

Other pathomorphological technique that helps to characterise neoplastic change is histochemistry. Using chemical methods, presence of characteristic compounds for different tissues, including tumours, can be found.

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