The Mohs Surgery Team
The team consists of the Mohs surgeon, histotechnician, and assisting nurses. The Mohs surgeon identifies the cancer and its margin, often with the aid of dermatoscopy. He or she removes the cancer under local anesthetic and prepares it for histology processing. This is accomplished by cutting the specimen (if required), staining the specimen for orientation, and sending it to the lab.
The histotechnician prepares the tissue for Mohs processing by flattening the surgical margin on a flat surface first. Then the flat surgical surface is mounted on a cryostat to be sectioned and prepared for glass slides to be read by the pathologist.
In Mohs surgery, the surgeon acts as the pathologist. He or she examines the slide for residual tumors, and marks the location of the tumor on the pathology report.
The Mohs surgeon sometimes functions as the reconstructive surgeon. Some Mohs surgeons perform their own surgical repair, but with more challenging cases will enlist the help of a plastic surgeon.
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