Field histology: Point-of-care microscopic technique.

Context: Standard histology services in geographically remote areas are often not available or have long turn-around time, resulting in delayed diagnosis or inappropriate treatment due to incomplete diagnostic data. The use of rapid tissue processing and a portable microtome technique may offer timely, point-of-care histologic diagnosis to patients in a low resources setting, such as medical missions.

Objective: To present an alternative to the conventional histologic processing that will permit point-of-care histopathology service.