HUMAN MEDICAL BIOLOGY, ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY AND PATHOLOGY - Ya.I. Fedonyuk 2010

INTRODUCTION

BASICS OF GENERAL PATHOLOGY

Subject and Tasks of Pathology

To understand The Essence of a disease and prevent its onset, one must study its nature, causes, mechanisms of development, and the resulting bodily changes. Clinical observations alone are often insufficient, which is where pathology comes in.

Pathology is a biomedical science that examines the patterns of onset, development, and resolution of diseases. In a broader sense, this term encompasses the clinical picture of a disease, its Etiology (cause), Pathogenesis (mechanism of development), principles of Treatment and Prevention, as well as The Study of structural changes in Organs and Tissues.

Pathology is based on two core disciplines: pathophysiological science (pathological physiology) and pathological anatomy. They are deeply interconnected and, over a century ago, constituted a single science. Their Separation was driven by the fact that morphological analysis alone was insufficient to understand the dynamics of pathological processes. Although functional changes are closely linked to morphological ones, a strict correspondence between them is not always observed. Pathology comprises two main sections: general pathology and special pathology. General pathology investigates universal patterns common to various diseases and the typical underlying processes (such as injury, inflammation, tumors, lymphatic and Circulatory Disorders, and compensatory or adaptive mechanisms). Special pathology focuses on specific diseases, their causes, mechanisms of development, morphological changes, complications, and outcomes.

To accomplish its objectives, pathology employs both pathophysiological and pathomorphological Methods.

Pathological anatomy studies the morphological changes that occur in the body of a sick person. As a clinical discipline, pathologists work directly in hospitals. They operate the pathomorphological service, which utilizes the following methods:

1. Autopsy of deceased individuals to determine organ alterations and establish the cause of death (pathoanatomical Diagnosis).

2. Intravitcal examination of tissue samples for diagnostic purposes—biopsy (from the Greek bios meaning life and opsis meaning Vision). This method is crucial in tumor Diagnostics, enabling the detection of diseases in their early stages before overt clinical manifestations appear.

3. Animal experimentation.

The tasks of pathological anatomy include:

- studying the morphological manifestations of diseases at various stages of their development;

- examining the Morphology of adaptive processes as the body responds to a constantly changing environment;

- investigating the structural basis of diseases arising from changes in human living conditions (pathomorphosis), as well as those resulting from therapeutic and diagnostic interventions (iatrogenesis, or the pathology of therapy);

- studying the Organization OF THE pathological anatomy service and its role in the healthcare system.

Pathological physiology is an experimental science. Its primary method is the pathophysiological

experiment, its object of study is the diseased Organism, and its subject is the disease itself. The mission of pathological physiology is to investigate functional Changes in the diseased body, elucidate the patterns underlying the origin, development, and course of pathological processes—in essence, to study vital activity during illness. The pathophysiological experiment allows researchers to reproduce in animals not only specific diseases but also isolated symptoms and syndromes that are frequently shared across different conditions. The results obtained are extrapolated to clinical practice with great caution.