My sister had her thyroid removed and it will take 2 weeks to receive the pathology report. why does it take so long?

Busy lab: The pathology lab where her thyroid was sent has lots of samples to evaluate in the order in which they were received. Each sample gets a thorough and careful evaluation. The tissue will be processed and mounted on a microscope slide, stained and examined. Then the report has to be written, reviewed and sent to her doc. This all takes time. Be patient. The answer will come.

THE PATHOLOGIST NEED: To be certain all cells are properly tested, stained, analyzed and processed. This is a tedious process and it needs to be performed flawlessly plus remember, he/she has a lot of other biopsies to report on...

It doesn't : I'm the director of surgical pathology for a large system examining 35000 specimens a year. We report 95% of our cases in 24-48 hours. If your case needed consultation at a large regional center such as the mayo clinic it may take one week.