Disease & Illness Flashcards
(a) Define ‘pathology’, and discuss its relationship to other biomedical sciences. (b) Discuss key concepts in pathology, with reference to: etiology, pathogenesis, pathophysiology, histopathology, diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, and precision medicine. (c) Describe stages in the evolution of pathology as a medical science. (d) Contrast ‘disease’ and ‘illness’, with examples. (e) Using broad categories, list seven major mechanisms which operate in human disease.
What are the 2 definitions of Pathology?
1) scientific study of disease
2) the medical speciality concerned with diagnosis
Define etiology:
The cause of a disease.
Define pathogenesis:
The development of a disease.
Define etiopathogenesis:
The cause and subsequent development of a disease.
Name 2 biomedical sciences that investigate “structural alterations”:
1) anatomic pathology
2) histopathology - structure and organization of ‘diseased” tissue.
Define pathophysiology:
Study of functional alteration due to disease.
Define histopathology:
Study of structural alterations in diseased tissue.
Define diagnosis:
The identification of a disease (based on history, examination and tests)
Define prognosis:
The expectations of what a disease will do (how it will progress and how the patient will fare).
Define prevention:
How to stop a disease from occuring (ie. screening tests like the Pap smear).
What is disease?
Disease is a BIOLOGICAL concept. It affects cells, tissues, organs, bodies, etc. and can nearly always be sorted into a category.
What is illness?
Illness is the sum total of the effects (of a disease) on a patient. Illness includes the feelings, thoughts and changes in functioning for a person.
What gets a disease, and what gets an illness?
Tissues/organs/bodies get disease.
People get illnesses.
What are the 4 developmental stages of PATHOLOGY as a medical science?
1) Prebiological
2) Anatomical pathology (1700s)
3) Cellular pathology (1800s)
4) Molecular pathology (2000s)
What is the prebiological approach to disease?
Superstitions, caused by offending the Gods or because you did something bad. (Homeless have stigmatized mental illness because they are “bad”; this type of thinking is still present today).
