intro to pathology

pathology

study of molecular, biochemical, functional, and morphological changes in cells, tissues, or organs in response to injury

Disease

“loss of ease”; a departure from normal

Why is Pathology Important?

If we understand a disease, we can diagnose, treat and prevent it

the emphasis of pathology is on the understanding of the tissue changes in terms of:

Basic science (alterations in anatomy, biochemistry, and molecular biology; pathophysiology) and Clinical relevance (clinical signs or symptoms and disease conditions produced)

types of pathology

general, systemic, anatomic, clinical, and forensic pathology

whats general pathology?

cellular and tissue levels + Types and mechanisms of disease (all organs)

whats systemic pathology?

organ-system level pathology

whats anatomic pathology?

Surgical pathology; gross pathology, histopathology; dermatopathology, neuropathology, etc. Included Biopsy (“study of life” and tissue samples of a living organism), Necropsy (“study of the dead”), and Autopsy (postmortem study of self (same species))

whats clinical pathology?

Deals with bodily fluids, excretions, secretions, and exfoliated cells (cytology). also deals with Blood work, clinical biochemistry, urinalysis, cytology

whats forensic pathology?

Medicolegal pathology

whats cytology?

Fast turnaround, Individual cell detail, Minimal risk to patient, May be better to observe organisms

whats histopathology?

Tissue architecture, Tumor grading, invasiveness

four aspects of a disease process that form the core of pathology

etiology, pathogenesis, morphologic changes, clinical significance

whats etiology?

primary cause

whats pathogenesis?

Mechanisms of development of a lesion or disease process

whats morphologic changes?

Structural alterations within cells, organs, or tissues associated with disease processes

whats clinical significance?

Functional consequences of morphological changes

different diagnosis

morphologic diagnosis, etiologic diagnosis, disease diagnosis, differential diagnosis

whats morphologic diagnosis?

Descriptive name for a lesion or disease process. Encompasses distribution, severity, time frame, organ affected, process type

whats etiologic diagnosis?

Describes the lesions and proclaims an etiologic age

whats disease diagnosis?

Specific diagnosis that names the disease

whats differential diagnosis?

The exercise of listing (in an orderly fashion) all the possible diagnoses of a given condition. Usually listed from the most to the least likely

disease

Departure from ease; departure from normal function

Pathology

study of molecular, biochemical, functional, and morphologic changes in fluids, cells, tissues, and organs in response to injury

Symptom

Change or discomfort or pain caused by disease that can be described to a clinician

Clinical signs

Changes in behavior, excretion, secretion, or body condition that can be observed and/or measured by a clinician

Lesion

Abnormal state of body chemistry, cells, or tissues. Lesions may be functional or morphological or both. One of the most common terms in pathology.

Etiology (or etiologic agent)

cause of a disease state. May be bacterial, viral, toxic, etc.

Pathogenesis

step by step progression from the normal state to a diseased one; concerns the mechanisms rather than the causes

Prognosis

prediction of the outcome of a disease; must understand pathogenesis to get an accurate prognosis

“-itis” meaning

suffix for inflammation

“-osis“ meaning

suffix for a pathological condition

“-opathy“ meaning

suffix for a pathological condition

Peracute/Acute

Changes (good or bad) that occur rapidly, Usually refers to minutes (peracute) to a few days (acute), Does not mean severe, although many peracute or acute diseases are severe

Subacute

“Not very acute”, Imprecise, but handy to describe certain clinical situations

Chronic

Means long-lasting, Usually refers to weeks, months, or years