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23.1 Introduction
Cancers typically develop slowly over time, beginning with just
a few abnormal cells that grow and proliferate. e majority of
malignancies develop through precancerous states character-
ized by varying levels of architectural and cytologic abnormal-
ity (Kumar et al. 2005). Detecting these structural and chemical
changes in tissues at the earliest possible stages can greatly reduce
rates of mortality and morbidity.
e current “gold standard” for detecting cancer of the epi-
thelial tissue is the histopathologic analysis of biopsy samples.
Biopsy samples are removed from the patient before being
xed, stained, and exa ...