1.4 Review Foundational Pathology Terms

Pathology

Pathology is the study of the changes in cells, tissues, and organs that underlie disease. Pathology is a bridge between science and medicine.

What are the four core aspects of pathology?

Aetiology, Pathogenesis, Morphological changes, Clinical manifestations

Signs

Objective measures from another person.

Symptoms

Subjective statements from the patient.

Cellular adaptation

Physiological or pathological responses of cells to changes in their environment, allowing them to survive in adverse conditions. This can involve changing the number of cells or their morphological appearance. It can be physiological, where it occurs in normal tissues or organs, or pathological, i.e. occurring in disease states.

Hypertrophy

An increase in the size of a tissue or organ due to the increased size of the cells.

Physiologic hypertrophy

Increased demand hormones/growth factors.

Pathologic Hypertrophy

Ventricular hypertrophy driven by increased blood pressure or ventricular volume Leads to heart failure, arrythmias.

Hyperplasia

Increased size of a tissue or organ due to increased number of cells.

Hyperplasia pathologic

Excessive actions of hormones/ growth factors.

Atrophy

A reduction in size of a tissue or organ due to a decrease in cell size and number.

Metaplasia

A reversible change in which one differentiated cell type is replaced by another cell type.

Necrosis

Cell ‘homicide’. A form of cell death characterized by the unregulated breakdown of cells, often resulting from injury or infection.

Apoptosis

Cell ‘suicide’. A regulated process of programmed cell death that occurs normally in development and homeostasis.