Pathology terms Flashcards
Disease
Condition of abnormal function involving anatomic structures or body systems and characterized by a recognizable set of signs and symptoms.
Pathology
The study of disease
Diagnosis
Scientific evaluation of physical signs and symptoms, and medical history, that leads to identifying a particular disease.
Prognosis
Prediction of how the disease will progress and the chances of recovery based on the person’s condition and the usual course of the disease observed in similar situations.
Etiology
Causative factors or origins of a disease.
Risk Factor
Tendencies that promote disease development.
Local Disease
Disease that affects only one area of the body.
Signs
Objective indicator of disease that is obvious to someone other than the affected individual.
Symptoms
Subjective feelings of which only the person experiencing them is aware.
Syndrome
A combination of signs and symptoms, that together, represent a disease process.
Systemic
Affecting the entire body.
Acute
Abrupt onset of a certain condition.
Chronic
In medicine, a condition lasting longer than three months.
Remission
Disappearance of the signs and symptoms of a disease.
Exacerbation
Worsening of the condition.
Epidemic
The occurrence of more cases of a disease than would be expected in a community or region during a given period of time.
Pandemic
An epidemic that becomes very widespread and affects a whole region, a continent, or the world, due to a susceptible population.
Morbidity
The rate at which a disease occurs within a group or area.
Mortality
Number of deaths resulting from a disease within a given time period.
Incidence
The frequency at which something, such as a disease or trait, appears in a particular population or area.
Autoimmune disease
An illness that occurs when the body tissues are attacked by its own immune system.
Prevalence
Number of all existing cases, new and old, of a disease within a particular population.
Degenerative disease
A disease that causes the breakdown or eventual loss of function or body part.
Genetic disease
A disease caused by an abnormality in the genome.
Jaundice
Yellow staining of the skin and sclerae by abnormally high blood levels of bilirubin.
