Pathology, Biopsy, Autopsy, and Cellular Injury

Vocabulary flashcards covering core concepts in general pathology, histotechniques, biopsy types, postmortem autopsy procedures, postmortem changes, cellular injury mechanisms, and patterns of necrosis.

Pathology

The study of diseases, specifically the structural and functional changes in cells, tissues, and organs that underlie disease.

Etiology

The underlying cause or reason for a disease.

Pathogenesis

The mechanism of development, progression, and proliferation of a disease.

Morphologic Changes

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

Clinical Significance

The functional consequences and clinical outcomes resulting from morphologic changes in disease.

General Pathology

The branch of pathology dealing with basic cellular and tissue reactions to abnormal stimuli that underlie all diseases.

Systemic Pathology

The branch of pathology studying specific responses of specialized organs and tissues to well-defined disease stimuli.

Gross Pathology

The recognition and diagnosis of disease based on macroscopic (naked-eye) examination of surgical or autopsy specimens.

Anatomic Pathology

The branch of pathology concerned with structural changes in organs and tissues using gross, microscopic, and postmortem examinations.

Surgical Pathology

A subdiscipline of anatomic pathology that analyzes tissue specimens surgically removed from living patients to guide diagnosis and treatment.

Exfoliative Cytology

A branch of cytology involving the microscopic examination of desquamated cells shed from epithelial surfaces or harvested by scraping or brushing.

Clinical Pathology

The branch of pathology focused on diagnosing and monitoring diseases through laboratory analysis of blood, body fluids, secretions, and tissue extracts.

Toxicology

The clinical chemistry subdiscipline analyzing drugs, poisons, and therapeutic drug concentrations in blood, urine, and body fluids.

Histotechnology

The science and practice performed by histotechnologists to produce high-quality tissue sections for microscopic diagnosis by a pathologist.

Biopsy

The removal and examination of cells or tissues from a living subject to determine the presence or extent of disease.

Excisional Biopsy

A surgical biopsy procedure in which an entire tissue lesion or whole organ is removed.

Incisional Biopsy

A biopsy procedure in which only a representative portion or sample of a tissue lesion is removed while preserving histological architecture.

Fine Needle Aspiration Biopsy (FNAB)

A minimally invasive biopsy technique utilizing a fine needle (typically gauge $22$) to extract cells or fluid from a target site.

Punch Biopsy

A primary skin biopsy technique using a circular blade rotated through epidermis and dermis into subcutaneous fat to yield a $3\text{--}4\text{ mm}$ cylindrical core specimen.

Shave Biopsy

A biopsy procedure using a scalpel or curved razor to shave off elevated surface protrusions of a skin lesion.

Curettage Biopsy

A biopsy technique using a curette (an instrument with a scoop or loop tip) to scoop tissue out of a cavity or narrow space like the uterine wall.

Autopsy

The systematic postmortem examination and dissection of a cadaver to determine or confirm the cause and manner of death.

Presidential Decree No. 856

The Code of Sanitation of the Philippines, Section 95 of which defines legal requirements and specifies authorized personnel for performing autopsies in the Philippines.

Algor Mortis

The postmortem cooling of the body to equalize with environmental temperature, occurring at an average standard rate of $1.52^\text{o}\text{F/hr}$.

Rigor Mortis

Postmortem stiffening of skeletal muscles caused by ATP depletion, conversion of ATP to ADP, lactic acid buildup, and fixed actin-myosin cross-linking without muscle shortening.

Livor Mortis

A dark bluish or purplish skin discoloration caused by gravitational settling (hypostasis) of blood in dermal vessels after blood circulation ceases.

Tardieu Spots

Dull purple-black spots measuring approximately $1\text{--}2\text{ cm}$ in diameter that appear in regions of livor mortis between $20\text{--}30\text{ mins}$ up to $2\text{ hours}$ after death.

Putrefaction

Decomposition and rotting of the body after death driven by bacterial activity and saprophytic organisms, accompanied by the generation of foul-smelling gases.

Saprophytic Organisms

Microorganisms, such as bacteria, that derive their nutrition directly from dead organic matter.

Medico-Legal Autopsy

An autopsy performed as prescribed by law to identify the decedent and establish the cause or manner of death in violent, sudden, or suspicious deaths.

Clinical Autopsy

An autopsy performed in a healthcare setting to diagnose, clarify, or confirm medical diagnoses that remained uncertain prior to the patient's death.

Virtopsy

A non-invasive medical imaging autopsy performed exclusively using imaging techniques such as CT (Computed Tomography) and MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging).

Autopsy of Virchow

An autopsy technique where organs are removed individually one by one, allowing a $360\text{--}\text{degree}$ examination of each organ.

Autopsy of Letulle

An autopsy technique in which internal organs are removed en-mass (all together as a single group) to preserve vascular connections.

Autopsy of Rokitansky

An autopsy technique characterized by the in-situ (in place) examination of organs within body cavities to contain infectious agents.

Autopsy of Ghon

An autopsy method where organs are removed en-bloc in three separate functional organ blocks: cervical, abdominal, and urogenital (UCA).

Cellular Injury

The state that occurs when cells are stressed so severely or exposed to damaging agents that they are no longer capable of adaptive compensation.

Homeostasis

The steady state of structural and functional equilibrium maintained by normal cells within narrow physiological constraints.

Hypoxia

Oxygen deficiency that impairs aerobic oxidative respiration, acting as a primary cause of cellular injury and cell death.

Ischemia

Deficiency of blood supply in a tissue resulting from arterial obstruction.

Barotrauma

Physical tissue trauma resulting from abrupt or extreme changes in atmospheric pressure, primarily affecting the lungs.

Reversible Cell Injury

Early or mild cell injury characterized by reduced oxidative phosphorylation, ATP depletion, and cellular swelling, which resolves if the damaging agent is removed.

Hydropic Change

The earliest morphological feature of reversible cell injury, characterized by cell swelling, microvilli loss, and plasma membrane blebbing from intracellular fluid influx.

Fatty Change

Reversible injury manifested by the accumulation of lipid vacuoles in the cytoplasm of parenchymal cells reliant on fat metabolism, such as hepatocytes.

Necrosis

An unregulated, unprogrammed form of cell death resulting from severe external injury, accompanied by cell swelling, plasma membrane rupture, and adjacent inflammation.

Pyknosis

A nuclear feature of necrosis characterized by nuclear shrinkage and dark, intense staining (hyperchromasia).

Karyorrhexis

A nuclear feature of necrosis characterized by fragmentation of nuclear chromatin.

Karyolysis

A nuclear feature of necrosis characterized by enzymatic digestion and total dissolution of the cell nucleus.

Apoptosis

A process of programmed cell death where cells shrink, fragment into apoptotic bodies, and undergo phagocytosis without plasma membrane disruption or inflammation.

Coagulative Necrosis

A pattern of necrosis where basic tissue architecture is preserved for several days due to enzyme denaturation blocking proteolysis, typical of ischemic infarction.

Liquefactive Necrosis

A pattern of necrosis characterized by rapid enzymatic digestion of dead cells, converting tissue into a viscous liquid or creamy yellow pus, typical of focal bacterial/fungal infections or brain infarcts.

Gangrenous Necrosis

Extensive tissue necrosis of an extremity resulting from arterial or venous occlusion combined with superadded bacterial infection.

Caseous Necrosis

A form of combined coagulative and liquefactive necrosis featuring a friable, white, cheese-like tissue appearance, classic in tuberculous infections caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Granuloma

A distinctive nodular inflammatory border composed of immune cells that encloses fragmented cells and granular debris in caseous necrosis.

Fat Necrosis

Focal areas of fat destruction resulting from the abnormal release of active pancreatic lipases that hydrolyze triglycerides into fatty acids, which combine with calcium to form chalky white saponified deposits.

Fibrinoid Necrosis

Vascular necrosis characterized by the deposition of immune complexes and extravasated fibrin within blood vessel walls, appearing bright pink and amorphous on H&E stain.

Avascular Necrosis

Death of bone tissue resulting from compromised or lost blood supply, commonly occurring at the ends of long bones; also known as osteonecrosis.

Squamous Epithelium

Epithelial cells that are flat, scale-like, and wider than their height, providing protective linings in the oral cavity, esophagus, alveoli, and blood vessels.

Cuboidal Epithelium

Square-like epithelial cells with equal height and width, specialized for absorption, secretion, and excretion in kidney collecting ducts and glandular ducts.

Columnar Epithelium

Epithelial cells that are taller than wide, often possessing cilia or villi, functioning in secretion and absorption in the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts.