Lab type
Dermatopathology
Fast, diagnosis-first skin reports for high-volume services.
Who it is for
Dermatopathology services and skin-focused histopathology laboratories that report large numbers of small biopsies every day, often for dermatology clinics, GP surgeries with minor surgery lists and private skin-cancer clinics.
Skin work moves quickly and most reports are short. VipLIMS puts the diagnosis at the top, keeps the clinical details and macroscopy brief, and saves the longer structured forms for the melanomas and carcinomas that need them.
A day with VipLIMS
- A dermatology clinic sends a batch of requests through the referrer portal, each with a body site and a clinical question. Reception matches pots to requests and receives them; each case gets its number, for example
D26-018845, and its TAT clock starts. - Macroscopy is recorded in a line or two: punch diameter, shave size, any pigmented lesion and how it was blocked.
- The dermatopathologist works through the worklist, sorted by TAT status. Benign lesions take seconds: a diagnosis line, a short microscopy note and margins if relevant.
- For an invasive melanoma, the reporter opens the starter melanoma form, records thickness, ulceration, mitotic count and margins, and the form becomes part of the report.
- Where your policy calls for a second opinion on new melanomas, the reviewing dermatopathologist is named in the report comment before the case is authorised.
- The authorised PDF is released to the clinic in the portal. When the wide local excision arrives weeks later, it is linked back to the original case number.
What the pack sets up
Ready on day one, editable afterwards
Case types and numbering
| Case type | Example number | Routine target | Urgent target |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diagnostic skin biopsy | D26-000042 | 5 days | 2 days |
| Excision of skin lesion | DE26-000042 | 7 days | 3 days |
| Wide local or re-excision | DW26-00042 | 7 days | 3 days |
| Mohs micrographic surgery | DM26-00042 | 1 h | 1 h |
| Referral or second opinion | DC26-00042 | 10 days | 3 days |
Example tests
| Test | Unit (UCUM) | Example reference range |
|---|---|---|
| Ki-67 (dermal component) | % |
Report sections
- Diagnosis required
- Clinical details required
- Macroscopy required
- Microscopy required
- Margins
- Comment
- Coding
Specimen types
- Punch biopsy
- Shave biopsy
- Curettings
- Incisional biopsy
- Excision ellipse
- Wide local excision
- Mohs stage tissue
- Nail clipping or nail unit biopsy
- Biopsy for direct immunofluorescence
- Sentinel lymph node
Starter synoptic templates
- Generic invasive melanocytic tumour (starter)
- Generic keratinocyte carcinoma (starter)
Written by VipLIMS; not RCPath, ICCR or CAP datasets. Build forms for the datasets your laboratory is licensed to use.
Words your team will see
- Reporter
- Dermatopathologist
- Sender
- Clinic
- Work item
- Case
- Subject
- Patient
- Specimen
- Specimen
- Output
- Report
Good practice built in
- Diagnosis-first report layout that clinicians can read at a glance.
- Generic starter forms for melanocytic tumours and keratinocyte carcinomas, which you adapt to the dataset you are licensed to use.
- Turnaround targets per case type and priority, with overdue cases highlighted on the worklist.
- Versioned reports and a full audit trail of reporting, review, authorisation and amendment.
- Supports workflows that laboratories accredited to ISO 15189 need, including named authorisation and coded diagnoses with SNOMED CT.
- Mandatory two-factor sign-in, encryption at rest and a full export of your data at any time.
Questions labs ask
Can clinicians upload clinical photographs?
Photograph upload on the request is not available yet. Clinical descriptions and body sites are captured in the request form.
Is there a body map?
Not yet. Body sites are recorded as text and SNOMED-coded sites. A visual body-site picker is on our list.
Does it handle Mohs surgery?
Yes, as its own case type with a stage-by-stage section in the report. Frozen sections themselves are cut and read in your Mohs unit as usual.
Can we invoice private clinics from VipLIMS?
Billing features are limited today. Case and referrer data can be exported for use in your accounting system.
Try the dermatopathology pack
Create your laboratory, choose this pack, load the sample cases and see how it fits your work. Free, with no card.