Pathology Flashcards
The 3 major definitions of pathology are:
- The scientific and medical discipline (science) that studies the functional, molecular, and functional manifestations of disease, and the mechanisms that cause disease. 2. The structural and functional manifestations of a disease. 3. A disease.
Role of pathologists in a research setting
Pathologists advance knowledge and understanding of disease
Role of pathologists in a clinical setting
Pathologists apply knowledge and understanding of disease to optimize prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of disease.
What is a disease?
Molecular, cellular, tissue, organ, and organismic damage caused by an etiology and mediated by pathogenic mechanisms.
Where do we target prevention and treatment of disease?
Etiology (cause) Pathogenesis (mechanism of disease)
VINDICATE nemonic
V-vascular I-inflammatory N-neoplastic D-drug/toxin I-infectious C-congenital/genetic A-autoimmune/immune T-traumatic/physical E-endocrine/metabolic/nutritional
Diagnosis:
The name for a disease
Etiology:
The cause of disease (many categories: infections, physical, chemical, genetic, immune, etc.)
Pathogenesis:
The sequence of events that leads from the etiology to the manifestations of the disease
Symptom:
Disease manifestation perceived and reported by the patient
Sign:
Manifestation of disease that can be identified by physical examination, laboratory tests, imaging studies, and other methods
Differential Diagnosis:
A ranked list of the most likely diagnoses based on the signs and symptoms of disease in a given patient.
Hypertrophy:
increased size of cells
Hyperplasia:
Non-neoplastic increase in the number of cells in an organ or tissue
Atrophy:
Reduced size of cells or organs
Metaplasia:
A conversion of one differentiated cell type to another
Dysplasia:
Disordered growth and maturation of the cellular components of a tissue. Dysplasia may be a precursor to malignant neoplasia.
Neoplasia:
The autonomous growth of cells that have escaped normal regulation of cell proliferation. Neoplasms that remain localized are termed benign, whereas those that spread (or are capable of spreading) to different sites (metastasize) are termed malignant.
7 Causes (etiologies) of Atrophy:
- Reduced functional demand (e.g. skeletal muscle atrophy caused by denervation) 2. Inadequate oxygen supply (e.g. kidney atrophy caused by renal artery stenosis) 3. Insufficient Nutrients (e.g. skeletal muscle and fat atrophy caused by starvation) 4. Interrupted Trophic Signals (e.g. endometrial atrophy after menopause) 5. Persistent Cell Injury (e.g. gastric mucosal atrophy caused by chronic gastritis) 6. Increased Pressure (e.g. localized skin atrophy caused by prolonged bed rest) 7. Chronic disease (e.g. cachexia caused by chronic disease)
Apoptosis:
Cell death caused by activation of internal molecular pathways leading to cell death. Can be physiological (epithelial sloughing before renewal) or pathological (hepatitis virus-induced hepatocyte loss)
Necrosis:
Cell death caused by pathological lethal injury that often originates outside the cell (e.g. injury by hypoxia, inflammation, molecular toxin, burn, etc.)
How is cell death histologically demonstrated?
Nuclear changes
Pyknosis:
The nucleus becomes smaller and stains deeply basophilic because of chromatin clumping
Karyorrhexis:
The pyknotic nucleus breaks up into many smaller fragments
























