Pathology Intro Flashcards
Pathology
understanding disease and cellular dysfunction.
define disease.
pathological condition of a body part and organ, or a system characterised by an identifiable group of signs or symptoms.
what is the broad reason for disease?
- failed homeostasis, at a whole person/ organ/ tissue level which result in consequent morphological and function disturbances.
what is chemical pathology?
clinical biochemistry
biochemical investigations of disease.
eg: diabetes, endocrinology, inborn errors.
what is haemotology?
disease of the blood, clotting, transfusion and marrow transplant.
what is immunology?
disease of immune system
eg: allergies, immunodeficiency/ autoimmunity
what is medical microbiology?
disease-causing microbes including antibiotic usage.
what is cellular pathology?
histopathology and cytopathology to examine organs, tissues and cells for diagnosis, conduct autopsies.
what is cytopathology?
disaggregated cells rather than tissue.
what is neuropathology?
confined to brain, spinal cord, nerves and muscle.
what is forensic pathology?
medicolegal investigation of suspicious or criminal deaths, attend crime scenes, perform detailed autopsies.
what is paediatric pathology?
tissue samples from children, undertake foetal, perinatal and paediatric autopsies.
why is a microscopic diagnosis important?
definitive diagnosis, before major surgery to remove lesion to guide type and extent of surgery.
what is cytology?
looks at cells, using fine needle aspirates, effusions, smears, sputum.
what is histology?
looks at core biopsies, excisions, specimens.
compare histology and cytology.
therapeutic as well as diagnostic and cytology is used to confirm or exclude cancer not to diagnose.
can assess cell architecture and cellular atypia vs higher error rates.
grading and staging vs preliminary testing.
cytology is faster and cheaper.
what is ascites?
accumulation of fluid in abdominal or peritoneal cavity.
important questions in cancer?
- type
- grade eg: well differentiated (close to origination cell), poorly differentiated ( very different to original)
- completeness of excision.
- staging ( to determine next step in treatment)
- immunohistochemistry ( likely efficacy of treatments)
what are the steps of achieving a histology report?
- fixative to inactivate autolysis.
- formaldehyde in water fixation for 24-28h.
- cut up of tissue by pathologist, samples size of a stamp and into racks of formalin.
- embedding into paraffin wax to be spliced thinly after removing water, and adding alcohol. then blocked.
- microtome used to cut thinly.
- stained H&E.
- mounted on a coverslip.
what is molecular pathology?
studies how diseased are caused by alteration in normal cellular molecular biology.
- altered DNA, RNA or protein.
what are the components of a histology/ cytology reports?
- clinical details : age, history, symptoms, risk factors.
- macroscopic : what we see at cut up.
- microscopic : diagnosis/ differential.
- conclusion
- by consultant histopathologist.
