Pathology Intro

Question 1

Pathology

Answer 1

understanding disease and cellular dysfunction.

Question 2

define disease.

Answer 2

pathological condition of a body part and organ, or a system characterised by an identifiable group of signs or symptoms.

Question 3

what is the broad reason for disease?

Answer 3

• failed homeostasis, at a whole person/ organ/ tissue level which result in consequent morphological and function disturbances.

Question 4

what is chemical pathology?

clinical biochemistry

Answer 4

biochemical investigations of disease.

eg: diabetes, endocrinology, inborn errors.

Question 5

what is haemotology?

Answer 5

disease of the blood, clotting, transfusion and marrow transplant.

Question 6

what is immunology?

Answer 6

disease of immune system

eg: allergies, immunodeficiency/ autoimmunity

Question 7

what is medical microbiology?

Answer 7

disease-causing microbes including antibiotic usage.

Question 8

what is cellular pathology?

Answer 8

histopathology and cytopathology to examine organs, tissues and cells for diagnosis, conduct autopsies.

Question 9

what is cytopathology?

Answer 9

disaggregated cells rather than tissue.

Question 10

what is neuropathology?

Answer 10

confined to brain, spinal cord, nerves and muscle.

Question 11

what is forensic pathology?

Answer 11

medicolegal investigation of suspicious or criminal deaths, attend crime scenes, perform detailed autopsies.

Question 12

what is paediatric pathology?

Answer 12

tissue samples from children, undertake foetal, perinatal and paediatric autopsies.

Question 13

why is a microscopic diagnosis important?

Answer 13

definitive diagnosis, before major surgery to remove lesion to guide type and extent of surgery.

Question 14

what is cytology?

Answer 14

looks at cells, using fine needle aspirates, effusions, smears, sputum.

Question 15

what is histology?

Answer 15

looks at core biopsies, excisions, specimens.

Question 16

compare histology and cytology.

Answer 16

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.

Question 17

what is ascites?

Answer 17

accumulation of fluid in abdominal or peritoneal cavity.

Question 18

important questions in cancer?

Answer 18

• 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)

Question 19

what are the steps of achieving a histology report?

Answer 19

• 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.

Question 20

what is molecular pathology?

Answer 20

studies how diseased are caused by alteration in normal cellular molecular biology.
- altered DNA, RNA or protein.

Question 21

what are the components of a histology/ cytology reports?

Answer 21

• clinical details : age, history, symptoms, risk factors.
• macroscopic : what we see at cut up.
• microscopic : diagnosis/ differential.
• conclusion
• by consultant histopathologist.