Pathology Intro Flashcards
Pathology/Diagnostics/Therapeutics
Ability in pathology is related to ability in diagnostics
Diagnostics are the basis of therapeutics
Therefore underlies all medicine
Pathology General Principles
Pathology= Morphologic Science
Not all diseases or processes lead to morphologic changes (pathology can miss these)
Morphology Basics
Morphology points to underlying pathogenesis and is therefore a very powerful and useful tool for understanding disease processes and the following therapeutic approaches that are likely to succeed
Basic Mechanisms of Disease
Each has consequences for the types of lesions (so interpreting lesions backwards point to these general mechanisms):
- Genetic
- Metabolic
- Toxic
- Traumatic
- Infectious (Viral, bacterial, fungal, protozoal, parasitic)
Diagnosis Definition
Broad term
Several different diagnoses are usually available for any individual patient
Morphologic Diagnosis
Strictly based on pathology and morphologic lesions
“Visible Changes”
“-opathy”
Means just about anything is wrong
“-itis”
More specific, inflammatory
Basic Pathologic Processes
- Structural malformation
- Hemorrhage
- Congestion
- Aplasia
- Hypoplasia
- Atrophy
- Necrosis
- Inflammation
- Hypertrophy
- Hyperplasia
- Neoplasia
Aplasia
Never Developed
Hypoplasia
Never developed fully/ Developed incompletely
Atrophy
Developed and then regressed
Necrosis
Death of cells/tissues in a living body
Inflammation
Body’s response to agents or other damage
Hypertrophy
Increase in cell size (ex. body builders)
Hyperplasia
Increase in cell number +/- cell size
Occurs in response to a stimulus (known or unknown)
Neoplasia
“New Growth” of cells uninhibited by feedback
Pathogenesis
Refers to the events leading to disease to help understand the progression of the disease process
Pathogenic
Adjective indicating an ability to cause disease
Ex. “Pathogenic Bacteria”
3 Types of Diagnoses
- Morphologic
- Etiologic
- Clinical
Etiologic Diagnosis
Takes into account the agent causing the disease
Clinical Diagnosis
Encompasses a mixture of the other 2
Ex. “Pneumonic Pasteurellosis” of cattle implies:
Morphologic diagnosis of pneumonia and etilogic diagnosis of the bacteria pasteurella
Descriptive Pathology
An aid to communication between clinicians and pathologists
Accurate descriptions help allow clinicians to give pathologists the information they need in order to arrive at a diagnosis that aids in the management of clinical disease
Descriptions Rules
Descriptions should be as free of interpretation as possible
Strategy for Description
List:
- Organ
- Distribution- diffusion (everywhere), focal (focused), multifocal, multifocal to coalescing (gets bigger and fuses together), locally extensive, scattered
- Other Details: Number, site (specifically within the organ), size (up to Xcm if multiple), shape, color, clarity/transluscency (clear/cloudy), texture (hard, firm, soft, friable-falls apart), odor
