Systemic Pathology Lecture Review

This set of flashcards covers critical vocabulary, definitions, pathognomonic signs, and quantitative diagnostic criteria from the systemic pathology lecture notes.

Atherosclerosis

A condition characterized by the thickening and hardening of large and medium-sized muscular arteries due to fibrofatty or atheromatous plaques that protrude into the vessel lumen.

Reid Index

The ratio between the thickness of the submucosal mucus glands and the total bronchial wall thickness in chronic bronchitis, with a normal value of $0.4$.

Aschoff Bodies

Pathognomonic granulomas found in Rheumatic Heart Disease that consist of central fibrinoid necrosis surrounded by Anitschkow cells, Aschoff cells, and lymphocytes.

Ghon Complex

The clinical combination of a subpleural parenchymal lesion known as a Ghon focus and associated hilar lymphadenopathy, indicative of primary pulmonary tuberculosis.

Barrett's Esophagus

A premalignant condition resulting from chronic reflux where the stratified squamous epithelium of the lower esophagus is replaced by columnar epithelium containing goblet cells.

Achalasia

A motility disorder characterized by a triad of failure of the Lower Esophageal Sphincter (LES) to relax, increased resting LES tone, and aperistalsis, often appearing as a 'Bird Beak' on imaging.

Skip Lesions

Multiple, well-demarcated segmental areas of bowel involvement with intervening uninvolved areas, a characteristic gross finding in Crohn's Disease.

Hirschsprung's Disease

Congenital aganglionic megacolon caused by the arrested migration of neural crest cells, leading to a segment of the bowel that lacks peristaltic contractions.

Kimmelstiel-Wilson (KW) Lesion

A pathognomonic finding of nodular glomerulosclerosis in diabetic nephropathy consisting of laminated, PAS-positive hyaline acellular masses within the glomerular lobule.

Nephritic Syndrome

A clinical complex characterized by hematuria, RBC casts, hypertension, and mild proteinuria typically below $3.0\,g/24\,hrs$.

Nephrotic Syndrome

A clinical complex characterized by heavy proteinuria above $3.0\,g/24\,hrs$, hypoalbuminemia, generalized edema, and hyperlipidemia.

Sequestrum

A piece of dead, devitalized bone that has separated from the living bone during the process of osteomyelitis.

Involucrum

A layer of new reactive bone that forms around a sequestrum or focus of infection in chronic osteomyelitis.

Codman Triangle

A radiographic appearance of a triangular shadow of reactive new bone formed when a tumor, such as an osteosarcoma, lifts the periosteum away from the bone cortex.

Psammoma Bodies

Small, concentric, calcified spherules seen on microscopy in conditions like Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma and Meningioma.

Homer-Wright Rosettes

A circular arrangement of tumor cells around a central fibrillary space, commonly seen in medulloblastoma and Ewing sarcoma.

HbA1C

Glycosylated hemoglobin that reflects the average blood glucose levels over the preceding $90-120$ days, with a diabetic diagnostic value of $6.5\%$ or more.

Zellballen Pattern

A distinctive architectural arrangement of polygonal chief cells in nests or cell balls separated by fibrovascular septa, characteristic of pheochromocytoma.

Schiller-Duval Bodies

Glomerulus-like structures composed of a central blood vessel enveloped by germ cells, found in Yolk Sac Tumors.

Gleason Score

A grading system for prostate carcinoma determined by adding the primary (dominant) and secondary (sub-dominant) architectural patterns, each graded from $1$ to $5$.

ABCD Warning Signs

A mnemonic for the clinical features of malignant melanoma: Asymmetry, irregular Borders, variegated Color, and increased Diameter.

Hashimoto Thyroiditis

An autoimmune disorder causing gradual thyroid failure, characterized by lymphocytic infiltration, germinal centers, and Hürthle cell changes in follicle lining.

Graves' Disease

An autoimmune disorder causing hyperthyroidism due to antibodies against TSH receptors, often presenting with diffuse thyroid hyperplasia and infiltrative ophthalmopathy.

Zollinger-Ellison Syndrome

A condition caused by gastrin-secreting tumors (gastrinomas) that leads to extreme gastric acid hypersecretion and recurrent, fulminant peptic ulcers.

Chocolate Cyst

An endometrioma of the ovary, which is a cystic mass filled with brown fluid resulting from periodic bleeding of ectopic endometrial tissue.