Cytology/ Cytopathology Laboratory including Andrology at St Thomas' Hospital

Laboratory overview

Cytopathology is a UKAS accredited medical laboratory (No.9323), accredited to ISO15189:2012 for the tests listed in our schedule of accreditation available on the UKAS website (https://www.ukas.com/wp-content/uploads/schedule_uploads/00007/9323-Medi...). The laboratory provides a comprehensive cytological service to Guy's and St Thomas’ Hospitals, Kings College Hospital, and General Practitioners throughout the South East London sector. We are an integrated service working in close proximity with microbiology, flow cytometry and histopathology services.

There are pathologist/consultant led clinics where experienced consultants personally aspirate samples from patients and are able to form an interim diagnosis;  BMS assisted clinics where trained BMS staff assist the radiologist by assessing the cellularity of the samples.

There is also a wealth of experience amongst consultants who attend regular MDMs and are involved with teaching, workshops, and CPD activities. The consultants also offer a referral service to other hospitals.

The laboratory employs academic and highly experienced consultants who lead the clinical aspects and quality of the service. 
There is also an equally committed and qualified group of MLAs that form the heart of the preparation laboratory.

Key features

We routinely provide the following services:

• A comprehensive non gynaecological diagnostic service. A combination of conventional methods and automated Thin prep T5000 technology is used to process these samples giving consistent high quality preparations for diagnostic purposes.
• An andrology service for patients in the South East London sector.
• Infertility tests and post vasectomy tests.
• A limited service for patients to produce an andrology sample exists in the newly built and well managed Gassiot house.

An excellent FNA service is provided at numerous clinics in all three hospitals. 

Advice to users of Andrology service 

In 2021, the World Health Organisation updated the Laboratory Manual for the Examination and Processing of Human Semen, and it is now in its sixth edition. Some of the changes in the new guidelines have resulted in an update to the dataset that is used to produce the lower reference values (LRV) for sperm cells in the routine analytical categories such as motility, concentration and morphology.  Please see the attached communication for guidance on how this will affect the interpretation of results from these tests.