About Us

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Northeast Dermatopathology Institute, (NDI), began operations September 6, 2005.  NDI is a specialty laboratory dedicated to providing state of the art dermatopathology services to physicians treating skin diseases. Our Laboratory is licensed by CLIA and the state of Pennsylvania and is accredited by the College of American Pathology. Laboratory services include evaluation of skin biopsies and excisions, slide preparation, H&E, frozen sections and on site immunoperoxidase and histochemical staining. Our skilled laboratory personnel include certified and registered histotechnologists and medical technologists with nearly 50 years of combined experience.  NDI uses state-of-the-art laboratory equipment as well as a sophisticated lab information system. The combination of skilled personnel, state-of-the-art computer systems and ultra-modern laboratory equipment demonstrate our commitment to quality patient care.  

Dermatopathology is the study of skin disease at a microscopic level. It is a subspecialty of anatomic pathology focusing on skin diseases. It encompasses both the diagnosis of individual patients and the study of the causes or pathogenesis of skin diseases at the cellular level.  Dermatologists recognize most skin diseases by their appearance, location on the body and behavior over time. Occasionally, a visual examination and history are not enough to render a diagnosis and a skin biopsy is taken to be examined under the microscope. A microscopic examination performed by a dermatopathologist will reveal the histology of the disease and clarify the diagnosis.  Certification in dermatopathology requires four years of medical school, a three to five year residency program in either dermatology or general pathology, followed by a one to two year fellowship training in dermatopathology. A dermatopathology fellowship includes either 6 months in clinical dermatology for those with a pathology background or 6 months in pathology training for those with a dermatology background. It is estimated that there are 1500 different rashes and skin tumors. This high number of different skin diseases, including variants, makes dermatology and dermatopathology among the most complex specialties in medicine.