PP 1 Intro To Pathology Flashcards
Pathology definition
Study of suffering
Disease definition
Pathological condition of a body part, organ or system characterised by identifiable groups of signs and symptoms
What can disease be due to?
Failed homeostasis
List the pathology disciplines
Chemical pathology
Haematology
Immunology
Medical microbiology
Cellular pathology
What is chemical pathology?
Biochemical investigations of disease
What is haematology
Disease of blood (leukaemia), blood clotting, blood transfusion and bone marrow transplant
Immunology
Disease of immune system
E.g. allergy, autoimmunity, immunodeficiency
What is medical microbiology?
Disease causing microbes and advice on antibiotic usage
Cellular pathology **
What is the importance of microscopic diagnosis?
- Definitive diagnosis
- To guide type + extent of surgeries - before major surgery, a lesion needs to be removed for microscopic diagnosis
Histology meaning
Examining pieces of tissue
Cytology meaning
Examining individual cells
Difference between histology and cytology
- Histology is examining ices of tissue - constituent elements around the cells
- Cytology is examining individual cells - not the tissue as a whole
Is histology or cytology non invasive?
Cytology
Is histology or cytology faster and cheaper?
Cytology
Does histology or cytology have a higher error rate?
Cytology
What can cytology be used for?
Cells in fluid
Preliminary test before other investigation
To confirm/exclude cancer/dysplasia
Dysplasia meaning
Presence of cells of abnormal type within a tissue
What can histology be used for?
- To assess architecture
- Differentiate invasive from in situ disease
- Better for immunohistochemical and molecular testing
- therapeutic as well as diagnostic
What are the stages of cancer?
TNM
Tumour
Nodes
Metastases
Metastasis meaning
Development of secondary malignant growths at site away from primary growth
Malignant tumours
Rapid growth
Spreads and invades
Benign tumours
Slow growth
Does not spread
Frozen section and embedding **
