Editing Pathology (section)

====Cytopathology====
{{Main|Cytopathology}}
[[File:AML-M6, multinucleated erythroblast.jpg|thumb|right|A [[bone marrow]] [[smear test|smear]] from a case of [[erythroleukemia]]. The large cell in the top center is an abnormal [[erythroblast]]: it is [[multinucleated]], with  megaloblastoid [[nucleus (cell)|nuclear]] [[chromatin]]. This is diagnostic of erythroleukemia.]]

Cytopathology (sometimes referred to as "cytology") is a branch of pathology that studies and diagnoses diseases on the cellular level. It is usually used to aid in the diagnosis of cancer, but also helps in the diagnosis of certain infectious diseases and other inflammatory conditions as well as thyroid lesions, diseases involving sterile body cavities (peritoneal, pleural, and cerebrospinal), and a wide range of other body sites. Cytopathology is generally used on samples of free cells or tissue fragments (in contrast to histopathology, which studies whole tissues) and cytopathologic 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]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mitchell, Richard Sheppard; Kumar, Vinay; Abbas, Abul K.; Fausto, Nelson |title=Robbins Basic Pathology |publisher=Philadelphia: Saunders. |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-4160-2973-1 |edition=8th}}</ref>