The importance of pathology cannot be underestimated. Every specialty of medicine has pathology as its basis. Whether it is tissue removal from surgery or frozen biopsy, or of course, post mortem autopsy studies, this is the way we learn what the disease really is, and this is the only way in which we can better diagnose and treat that disease in living patients.
Whereas pathology is the backbone of medicine and is representative in every hospital in the country, it is not taught in any pathology residency problem. Over the years it has been left in the realm of research. It is very costly to acquire a human temporal bone specimen subsequent to death. It is very costly to process it and study it from a scientific point of view. Nevertheless, this is the only way in which we can understand diseases and develop ways in which to diagnose and treat them.
Advancing the Field...and Patient Care
The Otopathology Laboratory at the University of Minnesota, sponsored by the International Hearing Foundation, has made major contributions which have resulted in many new ways of identifying and diagnosing disease, and in fact, discovering new diseases that patients have. Methods of treating these diseases including medical and surgical approaches have evolved from this important knowledge.
In addition, research has been very productive in the Otopathology Laboratory and many hundreds, if not thousands, of scientific publications in preferred medical journals have resulted from this laboratory.
The Otopathology Laboratory has been valuable for training specialists from the United States and doctors from throughout the world. It has been a facility which has allowed several hundred specialists to train in the facility, many of whom have become leaders in the profession - such as 28 professors and chairmen of ear, nose and throat throughout the world.
What can I do to help?
There is a great need for financial support, so if you are interested in learning more about the laboratory and making a donation, please call 612-339-2120.
If you have an ear problem, you may wish to contribute your temporal bones after death. This is a very aesthetic process. The bones then go to the laboratory and in a very elegant way lead to new knowledge to help many others who have deafness and other ear diseases.
