General Concept of Disease Flashcards

These vocabulary flashcards cover the general concepts of disease, classifications of pathology, biopsy types, and clinical versus anatomic pathology based on lecture notes.

Pathology

Derived from the Greek "pathos" (suffering) and "logos" (study or science), it is the medical science concerned with the essential nature, causes, development, and structural/functional changes resulting from disease processes.

Etiology

The study of the causes of diseases, which may be intrinsic/genetic factors (DNA abnormalities) or acquired/environmental factors (physical, chemical, nutritional, infectious, or immunological).

Multifactorial diseases

Diseases with a complex etiology where the effects of multiple genes combine with consequences of lifestyle and environmental factors, such as diabetes, atherosclerosis, cancer, and obesity.

Primary disease

Diseases with unknown causes, also classified as idiopathic, essential, or cryptogenic, such as essential hypertension or idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

Pathogenesis

The sequence of events in the response of cells or tissues to the etiologic factor, stretching from the initial stimulus to the ultimate expression of disease.

Morphologic changes

Structural alterations in cells or tissues that are either characteristic or diagnostic of a disease.

Lesion

A structural abnormality and its accompanying functional consequences responsible for ill health; these can occur at gross, microscopic, ultrastructural, or molecular levels.

Gross lesion

A structural abnormality in an organ or tissue that is visible to the naked eye, such as a polypoid laryngeal mass.

Ultrastructural lesion

A structural abnormality that is only visible using an electron microscope.

Signs

Objective evidence of disease perceptible to the examining physician, such as a skin rash, jaundice, or lower extremity edema.

Symptoms

Subjective evidence of disease perceived only by the patient, such as nausea or malaise.

Hyperacute clinical course

A disease duration that lasts for a period of $Hours$.

Acute clinical course

A disease duration that lasts for a period of $Days$ to $Weeks$.

Subacute clinical course

A disease duration that lasts for a period of $Weeks$ to $Months$.

Chronic clinical course

A disease duration that lasts for a period of $Months$ to $Years$.

Sequelae

The consequences of a previous disease that remain after the initial condition has passed.

Recurrence (relapse)

The deterioration of a patient's condition after a period of improvement.

General Pathology

A subdivision of pathology that examines basic reactions of cells and tissues underlying all diseases, such as cell adaptation, necrosis, inflammation, and neoplasia.

Special Pathology

A subdivision of pathology that systematically examines specific diseases of each organ system and the responses of special organs to particular stimuli.

Anatomic Pathology (AP)

A branch of pathology focused on the investigation and diagnosis of disease through the examination of tissues, including autopsies, surgical biopsies, and cytopathology.

Surgical Pathology

The study of tissues removed from living patients during surgery to help diagnose disease and determine a treatment plan.

Biopsy

The removal of a sample of tissue from the body of a living patient using various techniques.

Excisional biopsy

A procedure where the entire mass or suspicious area, such as a whole spleen in Hodgkin's disease or a whole thyroid in goiter, is removed.

Incisional biopsy

The removal of a specific portion or representative piece of a lesion for diagnostic purposes.

Punch biopsy

A procedure mostly seen in dermatology where a small, cylindrical piece of tissue ($3\,\text{mm}$ in diameter) is removed using a tube-shaped instrument.

Frozen Sections

A rapid tissue processing technique where fresh tissue is frozen in a cryostat ($-25^\circ\text{C}$, $-13^\circ\text{F}$) during an operative procedure to provide a diagnosis within $20\,\text{min}$.

Cytopathology

The branch of pathology that studies and diagnoses diseases at the cellular level, such as through Pap Smears or Fine Needle Aspiration (FNA).

Spontaneous exfoliation

A cell collection technique where cells shed by the body are collected in cytology specimens, such as from the pleural cavity via thoracocentesis.

Rokitansky method

An autopsy procedure where all the organs of the thorax and abdomen are removed from the body in one block.

Clinical Pathology (CP)

A branch of pathology focused on the study and diagnosis of disease from chemical changes in tissues and fluids, such as blood, urine, and chemistry panels.