The scientific study of disease in humans and other living organisms. It involves the application of a wide range of analytical techniques to body cells, tissues, and fluids. Originally limited to gross post-mortem dissection of the body, ready access to blood and to tissue biopsies today allows the investigation of the living person. It encompasses the study of the causes of diseases, the detection of micro-organisms and of chromosome and enzyme defects, the microscopic (including ultramicroscopic) study of cells and tissues, cell culture and immunological reactions, and microchemical analyses.
Within biology but also a branch of medicine, it means specifically the study and diagnosis of the structural and functional changes in cells, tissues and organs that underlie disease. Pathology as a field of knowledge hence forms the basis of the scientific reasoning behind the practice of medicine.Scope of pathology
The primary goal of pathology is the study of the four main aspects of a disease:
Etiology: what causes the disease Pathogenesis: the mechanism by which a certain etiological factor causes disease Morphologic changes: the structural changes induced in the cells, tissues and organs Clinical significance: the functional consequences of the morphologic changesPathologists' work
Because the public rarely meets pathologists, their work is not well understood. Pathology is a large and diverse field that allows a pathologist to participate in multiple areas of the field or focus their scope to a specific area. Microscopic examination searches for disease of any type and this information is returned to the surgeon via a pathology report. There exists a subspecialty in pathology that allows for the training of medical examiners who wish to pursue forensics. In addition to the diagnosis of disease, including cancer, and the administration of medical laboratories, pathologists often participate in the teaching of medical students (Pathology is a core course in the medical curriculum). Pathologists express their opinion as a pathology report addressed to the doctor requesting it. Pathology is often considered the most scientific branch of medicine because of the available avenues of research involving human material.
Tools of pathology
The techniques used most often in the study of the disease process and hence diagnosis are:
Gross pathology: the recognition of disease based on macroscopic examination of surgical specimens generated at the time of surgery or at autopsy. Histopathology is the science of diagnosing diseases on the basis of the histological aspect of the diseased tissues.Branches of pathology
Medicine
In the United States, pathologists are medical doctors (MD) or doctors of osteopathic medicine (DO), that have completed a four year undergraduate program, four years of medical school training, and four to five years of postgraduate training in the form of a pathology residency. Training may be within two primary specialties, as recognized by the American Board of Pathology:
Anatomic Pathology, the science of diagnosing diseases based on the appearance of tissues,both gross and microscopic. Clinical Pathology, the science of diagnosing diseases based on the
analysis of body fluids like blood, urine, etc.
Most pathologists seek a broad based training in both fields and thus require four years of postgraduate training known as residency. Boarding requirements are set by the American Board of Pathology. Following the general training, many pathologists continue on to more specialized training within specific fields of pathology. Multiple fellowship opportunities are available within both Anatomical and Clinical Pathology. Examples of fellowhips include General Surgical Pathology, Gastrointestinal Pathology, Genitourinary pathology, Hematopathology, Dermatopathology, Microbiology, and Clinical Chemistry. These are but a few of the numerous fields within pathology. Some of the speciality areas of pathology are board certified while others are not. Pathologists, like all other medical doctors, require a medical license from the State they are working in to practice their field.
Dentistry
The American Board of Oral and maxillofacial pathology certifies dentistry doctors, not medical doctors, to practice this sub-specialty of Pathology.
Experimental pathology
Experimental pathology (or investigative pathology), is the study of disease mechanisms and pathophysiology. Tissue culture, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), ELISA, western blot, southern blot, northern blot and many other biotechnological methods are required to identify differences between normal and disease states in different cell types with regards to DNA, RNA, and protein as well as determining the influence of these differences on the organism as a whole.
Other
Plant pathology Veterinary Pathology Parasitology Speech pathology is an unrelated area mostly involved in helping patients with stroke or speech impediments.Related sciences
Anatomy, either gross or microscopic (histology) Nosology: the science of classifying, or naming, diseases Epidemiology: the science of associating diseases with risk factors, regardless of known pathological relationships.Other uses of "pathology"
Pathological is used to describe a person's actions in such a way as to credit the action to a disease process, e.g. pathological purchasing or pathological consumption, pathological narcissism, pathological liar, pathological gambling, pathological jealousy.
Pathological is also used in mathematics, physics, and statistics to describe an exceptionally (or awkwardly, or inconveniently) atypical example or set of data, often one which does not abide by rules or succumb to treatment that other similar cases usually do:
Pathological (mathematics) Pathological scienceComputer science uses this term in a slightly different sense with regard to the study of algorithms.
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