question about my pathology report

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if someone could help me understand something.

At my 6-week check last week, my doctor went over my path report with me, and I understood all he said. At the end of my appointment, I was just leaving, and I suddenly remembered to ask him for a copy of my path report. So, we said our goodbyes and he had the nurse photo copy it for me.

So, the first time I actually READ my own path report was when I was sitting in my car in the parking lot at the doc's office.

One thing it said about my cervix was this:

cervix with mild chronic inflammation

When my doctor was talking to me about the path report, he made no comment to me at all about my cervix.

But, now I'm wondering what does "mild chronic inflammation" mean? Is this just a description of a "normal" a cervix.... is a cervix usually inflammed? I'm assuming if this was not normal that my doctor would have mentioned it to me.

I just want to know what this means.... anyone know?

Thanks!!

ps. Just adding one more question about my path report.

I also had acute appendecitis (so it was pretty severe), and on the section describing my appendix, it says this:

no crypt distortion or granulomas are seen to suggest the possibility of chronic inflammatory bowel diseaase, however, additional clinical correlation is recommended.

Does anyone know what additional clinical correlation is recommended means??

Does this mean get further testing?? My doctor didn't recommend any sort of follow up re: my appendix.

Anyway, just trying to make sense of some things now that I have this report in my hands.

Thanks!!

LTR:
My path report said that also "clinical correlation." That was one thing I forgot to ask about, but I think it means maybe more than one person looked at your specimens to come to an agreement on diagnosis..

My pathology report also showed chronic inflammation .. but I was expecting that on mine as I was having a hysterectomy to treat cervical dysplasia due to high risk HPV.

Inflammation of the cervix can be caused by bunches of stuff - yeast infection, bacterial infection, recent intercourse, HPV infection, etc. If your doc wasn't worried about it, it was probably nothing to be concerned with.

Mine had the same thing on it about my cervix, Dr told me it it was from my prolapse and it was just from some rubbing on it due to the prolapse.

chronic inflammation can come from lots of different infections or irritations..he probably sees this all the time on path reports and didnt feel the need to mention it since its nothing to worry about.
i would think additional correlation means that in order to rule out chronic inflammatory bowel disease, further testing would be needed.

Loves to Run- So funny that you posted this today. I just had this discussion with my dr. at my 4 week check up this morning. My path report said chronic cervicitis (which is chronic inflammation of the cervix). My dr. said that it is on almost all path reports for hysters. He described it like this: Women have a hole in their bodies that opens into their abdomen. The cervix is the blocker for bacteria that enters the body at that hole and therefore can be inflamed quite often. Hope this helps and gives you peace of mind.

clori22

Clinical correlation really means that the physician puts the path report against his or her clinical assessment of your symptoms..in this case ruling out an inflammatory bowel syndrome (causing appendicitis) would mean looking at your history i.e if you have had any symptoms or complaint that would suggest IBS that may have contributed to your appendicitis. The path report indicates none was seen but the dr's exam may override it. As mentioned by many others - chronic inflammation of the cervix is very common - not generally something to worry about. Hope this helps.
Trish

Jazzy:
Are you well versed with path reports? Can you tell me what subserosal leiomyoma is?
Thanks

I am a Surgical Nurse Practitioner so I have some experience with path reports but generally the report is full of a lot of descriptors which in the long run describe the condition of the tissue submitted. leiomyoma is another name for fibroid...subserosal is where the fibroid grew...in your case the subserosal layer of the uterus...generally benign...is there any further description in your report? Your doctor would be the best resource for the meaning of your path but generally that's how it's interpreted... funny thing was I hardly understood any of my path report - hard being on the other side of the fence!! I had to get my MD to go over all of it with me If you have any questions it is worth your while to go over it with your doc line by line...good luck!

Thanks everyone for the responses! You all helped me understand these parts of my path report. :-)

What you all said makes a lot of sense... and I figured since my doctor did not seemed concerned about anything when we went over my path report that it was all ok anyway.... but it's just nice to know what it all really means.

Thanks so much.