Concept

Armed Forces Institute of Pathology

Résumé
The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) (1862 – September 15, 2011) was a U.S. government institution concerned with diagnostic consultation, education, and research in the medical specialty of pathology. It was founded in 1862 as the Army Medical Museum in Washington, D.C., on the grounds of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC). It primarily provided second opinion diagnostic consultations on pathologic specimens such as biopsies from military, veteran, and civilian medical, dental, and veterinary sources. The unique character of the AFIP rested in the expertise of its civilian and military staff of diagnostic pathologists whose daily work consisted of the study of cases that are difficult to diagnose owing to their rarity or their variation from the ordinary. The accumulation of such cases has resulted in a rich repository of lesions, numbering over three million, that have been the basis of major pathological studies. Examples are the published reports on the clinical, pathological, and molecular characteristics of the relatively newly recognized gastrointestinal stromal tumors. Another special feature of the AFIP was the interaction between its departments in analyzing complex cases. The AFIP's diagnostic departments were based on organ sites—e.g., dermatological, hepatic, gastrointestinal, genitourinary, pulmonary, soft tissue, bone, hematological, neurological, endocrine, and gynecological pathology. In addition, there were specialty departments dealing with infectious and parasitic diseases, molecular studies and environmental pathology. As all of these specialties were located in one institution, rapid collaborative examination of a case was facilitated and interdepartmental collaborative research was the rule rather than the exception. In 2009, the Environmental Protection Agency shut down many of the labs, especially those dealing with anthrax, due to improper storage practices. Unique to the AFIP was the Department of Radiologic Pathology, which pursued the interface between diagnostic radiology and anatomic pathology.
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