title: [PCR based diagnosis in pathology].
abstract: PCR-based diagnosis of infectious diseases has developed into an important method in surgical pathology. We summarize our experience in this area based on 3500 analyses performed during the past 5 years. The peculiarity of material from a pathological laboratory is the risk of DNA fragmentation as a consequence of tissue fixation. For this reason the assays used must be adapted to this particular situation. PCR-based diagnosis of infectious diseases, if performed according to appropriate quality standards, is a safe and effective technique with high sensitivity and specificity and results in an etiologically based diagnosis.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Pathologie der Charité, Rudolf-Virchow-Haus, Berlin.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schewe
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rizzello
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dietel
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hauptmann
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D007239:Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology*; D009164:Mycobacterium Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology; D010336:Pathology / Q000379:methods*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*