About
About Us
The Department of Pathology at the Catholic University of Health and Allied Sciences (CUHAS-BUGANDO) is affiliated with Histopathology and Morbid Anatomy Department at Bugando Medical Centre. Our main goal is to understand, diagnose, and translate diverse manifestations of human diseases into clinical applications through comprehensive pathology and laboratory medicine services.
We provide pathological diagnosis, consultancy, and teaching, and facilitate research activities in the field of human pathology. Additionally, we serve as a referral laboratory for histopathological, cytopathological, and hematological investigations and diagnoses, teaching, and research in the Northwestern zone of Tanzania.
We handle approximately 7,000 tissue biopsies and around 2,500 cytological tests each year for diagnosis of various tumor lesion, teaching purpose and research.
Teaching Services
The department offers various courses at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
Consultancy Services
We offer specialized pathology consultancy, including outreach programs for cancer screening in collaboration with various NGOs and individual pathology screening programs. We also provide pathology services to regional referral and district hospitals in the Lake Zone area
Histopathology Services
When tissue biopsies are received, they undergo various histopathology steps such as grossing, processing, sectioning, and staining. Routine Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) staining is applied, while some samples are stained with special stains for specific purposes, such as identifying organisms like Mycobacterium tuberculosis and polysaccharides.
Immunohistochemistry Services
Recently, we have adopted advanced techniques for cancer diagnosis, prognosis, and management through immunohistochemistry. We have approximately 32 antibody markers for diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment, including ER, PR, and HER2 for breast cancer; TdT, CD45, CD20, CD15, CD10, CD30, BCL-2, and CD3 for lymphoma; and C-KIT for gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST). Other markers include S100, Cytokeratin AE1/AE3, Cytokeratin 5/6, Chromogranin A, Myogenin, Desmin, Vimentin, SMA, HMB-45, E-cadherin, Calretinin, p63, GFAP, HEP-PARA1, Kappa and Lambda Light Chains, HHV-8, CD1a, CD99, and Ki-67. We are committed to expanding our immunohistochemistry services over time.
Hematology Services
The department provides investigations for hematological diseases through bone marrow aspiration smears and bone marrow biopsies.
Mortuary Services
We conduct postmortem examinations, including both medical autopsies and complex clinical autopsies, to determine causes of death in deceased patients.